Why wheel work should not precede hand building exercises in learning pottery

Why wheel work should not precede hand building exercises in learning pottery

Pottery does not restrict itself to making pots as is often what people mistake it for. Pottery is an art. Art has no boundaries.  In fact, artistic pots can also be made by hand using coils and there is no need for a wheel.  The pots are made so look very aesthetic too as well as unique and novel, considering they are handmade and not on the electronic wheel.

When a person wants to get very creative and display their uniqueness and carve a niche for themselves in the arena of pottery,   they must first learn how to cope with clay in the first place and experiment their heart’s worth with hand building ideas. These develop your patience and time management skills apart from developing your creative instincts and motivating you to focus and build eye-hand coordination, which will be very useful later on. This will also give you a cutting edge over the others as your workmanship is definitely richer, cleaner and neater due to practice for 20-40 classes as the case may be.

Pottery has many advantages for the corporate world too, which I will discuss in detail in my next blog.

The finest of intricacies come by handwork as detailing cannot be done on the electronic wheel.  The handwork takes most part of the time as it involves mashing clay first, then comes the designing layouts and may involve pinching, pitting, coiling, scoring, gumming,  and possibly slab work  at a dimensional level too. So it calls for a lot of effort in artistic pottery.

Once a person masters the intricacy, the wheel work is just a cake walk and child’s play. But on the other hand, if a person attempts to learn the wheel work first , he or she may not be inclined to work in intricacy and detailing  as the  mind will not allow scope for it , being accustomed to the wheel. Hence creativity takes a back seat. This is my take.

One must learn a bit of Traditional, Modern and contemporary art with possibly a bit of abstracts too in their basic levels in pottery  to fine tune themselves and then hop on to the wheel for further advancements in level 2 or 3.

The wheel can at the most bring out different sizes and shapes akin to that of pots and circular items. Nothing goes beyond that.   The creative freak and individuality lies in our hand work in display.

Art is that which should make the onlooker feel the piece come alive and feel the joy of the hand work and relish it. Anybody can churn pots on the wheel as it is not some rocket science; the potters’ families have been doing it for ages. It is nothing new.  They are merely potters who have learnt to execute pots on the wheel from their forefathers and are carrying on their rich tradition, not gone beyond to lend an artistic touch to cater to the competitive world of today.  But, what is the add -on you envisage is what lends the difference between you and another in pottery, if you wish to establish an identity or brand name in the field.

So learn your basics and have a strong footage in hand work as, in my opinion, that has yielded good results and the outcome is fantastic.  Once you master handwork, make your foray into the wheel so that you  subsequently master the wheel. Then combine your expertise in both to churn out enviable pieces of art. This is value addition in artistic pottery.   In art , be a class apart. 

The wheel seems to be a craze for the onlooker at a first glance and makes an impact  on the onlooker on account of its fast rotating movements and speed.  But a strong foundation in hand-building ideas is invaluable  to stay a class apart.

Cheers to unique pottery  from you!

About the Writer : Malini is the Founder Director of Artistic Pottery Training Academy , a trainer and artist herself.  website: www.malinipottery.com. These are her views as a professional in the field .