You have stumbled across my first ever blog post! Welcome! I have no clue about how blogging works, so I'll just tell you all a little about myself.
I am a maker. I was born to make, craft, create, build, construct, produce, etc. I wish here was where I told you that Why, I always have loved mud, or, I've always known I would be a potter. But that's just not the case. The truth of the matter was that I actually hated ceramics. When I reached middle and high school, I realized that I had a talent for art. Drawing and painting in specific were what I was good at. I wasn't great, but I loved art. I practically lived in the art gallery. Any class I could take to get me down there, I took. Interestingly enough, I wound up in a ceramics class. Sadly I hated it. I just didn't enjoy it. I didn't connect with the material, or the process for that matter. So I left ceramics, in my eyes, in the dust. Never to turn back. Goodbye. Until….( pause for dramatic effect)
As a community college student, I found myself totally disconnected from anything art. My undecided major was heading in an academic route, that would no doubt lead me down a unsatisfying road. (I am sure I'll talk about my distaste for American education, in other posts, but for now let's stay positive) I was so miserable in this setting, until one day I was told that I needed to fill some electives. My counselor told me that the easiest class to fill an art elective with, would be ceramics. That class is a cakewalk, he said. Kind of dreading the idea of ceramics again, but enticed by the easy A, I agreed and took the course. The first couple weeks were awful and in my mind I was thinking, Ashley, why the hell did you take this class again? But then, just before the semester was about to end, my teacher introduced us to the wheel. MAN OH MAN DID I LOVE THE WHEEL.
Now my first experience, as most potters will tell you, was a FAIL. It was so hard! I couldn't center the clay, I had too much water, I even had several bats fly across the room as spinning discs of death! But there was something different about this aspect of clay that made me hungry for more. I HAD to get better. I wouldn't accept any less from myself. Any chance I had to be in the studio, you can bet your sweet a-, well, I was there a lot. It was like I was under this clay spell! I simply had to keep learning. And so I did.
Fast forward a couple years and now I have switched my major from who the hell cares to a BFA in ceramics. I couldn't be happier! I can now honestly say that
Clay runs through my veins.
It still sounds a little artsy frou frou to me, but I'll get over it. What I have come to realize from that statement is that I am one of the few lucky people in the world. Because I have found my true passion in life, not many people get to say that, in our society.
So why continue to read? Well, this blog will be the opportunity for you follow a young artist on her journey through life and the ceramics world. Currently I am preparing for my senior thesis show at Arcadia University, so I am making tons upon tons of work. I will be writing about a variety of techniques and tests as I learn and use them. There will no doubt be failures, but also success! Nothing is more interesting for me to read than others stories of progress of process, so enjoy mine!
That said, I hope you enjoyed reading my entry into ceramics tale as much as I did writing it. Please, come back periodically to see how I am progressing towards becoming a professional ceramic artist/potter, as well as in my own life.
Stay muddy,
Ashley
This post was edited by comma killer fiancé, Andrew T. Devitt.
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