As a potter it is so important (and exciting) to continue to push yourself in new directions. So after a week of learning from the incredible @marthahgrover, here in Bethel, Maine, I feel ready to go home and get to work on some new ideas!

The workshop began with a sort of tutorial/making theme and while I obviously didn’t come to specifically make “Martha Grover pots” it was so awesome to have some guidance, via tutorials, demos and one-on-one help, to help me execute and become comfortable with the techniques she showed us. A lot of the pots I made this week don’t quite feel like my pots, but that’s not really the point – the point is I have very seriously stepped out of my comfort zone as far as manipulating clay in new ways, and I now have countless new directions available to me in which to take my own work.

This week has, perhaps on the surface, been about breaking out of the round/flat-rimmed vessel formula, or simply working in altered porcelain, but deeper than that – this workshop has made me think about what rhythms and forms truly inspire me. Watching Martha discuss her process and inspiration, and seeing the passion and playfulness that she puts into each of her pots – large and small – while constantly exploring what inspires her has felt like a bit of a catalyst for me.

I’ve always been interested in making functional vessels – mugs, bowls, vases, etc . In the past few years I’ve been inspired by the kind of growth in the natural world that occurs just before something springs forth – that stage of growth where you can see that a bud or tendril is swelling with potential energy, like a coiled spring, and is juuuuust ready to launch into its new form.

Thinking about this in more depth this week has me pondering on how to build new forms capable of expressing that “coiled energy” and “potential movement” in my forms. It’s a lot to think about!

It occurs to me that I talk about having all these new ideas and directions to follow, after this workshop. Perhaps -I’m- the swelling bud, ready to burst forth, right now! 😅

Luckily I have a couple of days and a 14+ hour drive back to Michigan, so I have plenty of time to think and dream.

We’ll be unloading the kiln in a couple of hours, here. While I am most excited to be taking home countless new ideas and methods of working with clay, it will be nice to hold some finished pots in my hands! I’m a bit overwhelmed by how kind and generous Martha has been all week, and I can’t recommend this experience enough!