The Best Life A Pot Can Have

Joe Bennion has a beautiful post over on his blog: The baking dish. It’s about different ways to work. Here’s the crucial bit:

…he and I work differently to get to the same point. His approach involves a series of thumbnail sketches and maquettes, from which one is chosen to be executed full scale. I work by making a lot of pieces in series (read: production work), without a lot of conscious thought given to each individual piece. After the firing I will select the one or two that have that “thing” that I can’t articulate but recognize when I pick them up and examine them with my eyes and my hands.

And here’s the pot:

And here’s the dish from back in 1985, featured in a NCECA show catalog:

A piece of art that is also functional. Awesome.

I miss the love of craft. I miss putting in the work. I can find those things if I look.