Dan Dee

From the outside, a kiln looks simple enough. Inside, though, it feels like a little world of its own. Every firing carries a sense of anticipation. We stack the shelves, close the door, set the program and then wait while the heat begins its slow and steady climb. Our kiln has become part of the rhythm of the studio. When it is running, there is always a feeling that something exciting is happening behind the scenes. Clay is changing. Glazes are maturing. Pieces are finding their final form....

There is something special that happens when someone walks into a pottery studio for the first time. Most people arrive feeling a mix of excitement and uncertainty, yet by the end of that first session they are smiling, relaxed and already seeing clay in a new way. A first pottery course opens a small doorway into creativity. Many of us spend years thinking that artistic practice lives somewhere far from our own lives. Then we sit at the wheel, or shape a piece of clay in our hands, and we...

Pottery as a Mindful Practice: Finding Calm in Clay