My love for clay and ceramics began in middle school, but due to unfortunate budget constraints during my schooling, I never got to fully throw myself into the experience. However, during the pandemic, like many, I had a lot of time at home and several streaming service subscriptions. After watching The Great Pottery Throwdown I decided to look into local pottery studies to see if I could continue with that early passion project. Luckily, a nearby studio had opened back up and began offering workshops again and luck struck twice with the fact that they were opening a second studio and going to be offering more classes. I signed up for beginner classes in August 2021 and have been enjoying the ride ever since. Much of research can be spent in isolation or without a tangible output, or at the mercy of reviewers, whereas with pottery, I was able to start making tangible output, see the value in my mistakes, and continue to work to improve them. It has been a lovely adventure in building community, taking life a little less seriously, and embracing imperfections.
