GAME PLAN

Most times I have a good solid game plan for what I am doing in the studio; throwing, tooling, glazing, test making or packing up orders, it is all part of each cycle. Though it is good to have a plan I do leave room for just doing something that springs to mind but I rarely sit at the wheel without knowing what I am going to make or at least attempt. If you have read or watched DUNE there is the semi-cheesy line, "fear is the mind killer" to me sitting at the wheel has the same sensibility, an unscripted project usually leads to disaster. I am certainly not saying this is the case for everyone, what I am saying is that looking back over a long period of throwing nearly ever incidence of just sitting and throwing has lead to either undefined or ambiguous forms or pots that either don't make it to the bisque or meet the hammer down the road, in the end it is all about the preparation. I have seen potters just sit at the wheel and create magic as a spontaneous act but that just doesn't work for me. I come in to the studio with a little slip of "to do(s)" and I am off to the races.

"You hit home runs not by chance but by preparation." Roger Maris (1934-1985)