There is something wonderful about beginning a workshop with a project that almost anyone can do.
This week at Paseo Pottery in Santa Fe, our Objects of Devotion: Ceramic Assemblage workshop began with a lump of clay and one of the oldest, simplest ways of forming it: the pinch pot.
We had an eclectic range of experience around the table. Some participants were accomplished ceramicists who knew exactly what clay would and would not tolerate. Others had literally never touched clay before.
And everyone made a bird.
We started by pressing a thumb into a ball of clay and pinching outward to create a small hollow form.
Then we turned that form on its side. A pinch became a beak. A little pressure suggested a tail. A fingertip or a needle tool made an eye. And almost immediately, personality appeared.
That was the part I loved most.
Some birds were plump and contented. Some were sleek and alert. Some looked as if they had somewhere important to go. Others seemed perfectly happy simply to sit there and observe the world.
Not one looked quite like another.
We can all begin with the same material, the same instructions, even the same basic form—and what comes through our hands will still be ours. Experience may give us more control over the material, but experience isn’t what gives a piece its spirit.
Sometimes the person who has never touched clay before makes something wonderfully alive precisely because they don’t yet know what a bird made of clay is “supposed” to look like.
These birds are only the beginning. During our next session, they may find their way into assemblages with other ceramic forms, found objects, fragments, wire, wood, cloth—who knows? That’s part of the adventure.
But for now, they are simply a flock.
Each one different. Each one dear.
And perhaps that is where an object of devotion begins.
I made this little process video to show how it all comes together. You can use air-dry clay if you like. Join the flock!
I’ll show you the results of the fired birds in after the next workshop sesion.