A Strange Request

We had a booth at the big Atlanta outdoor art/craft show this weekend, The Dogwood Festival, with work for sale and running demonstrations of pottery making on the wheel and otherwise. I think its fair to say that people in general are transfixed when they watch a potters hands transform a lump of mud to something round and recognizable on the wheel. This is mega-particularly true with children. Now I’m not a huge fan of kids (that’s right, go ahead, demonize me) but its true. But watching a childs eyes and face light up with some sense of excited mystery whilst magic occurs before their eyes, and they look up at you like some kind of super-hero Gandalfian mega-man…well this can make you like kids. And its fun to think of being able to create this type of wonder and excitement in someone’s head. Very very rewarding.

A very common question in this demo scenario was “what are you going to make” and I like to make it interactive so I’d ask “what do you want me to make” and point to the cups, bowls, vases, etc spread out behind me. Most times people would say “a cup” or “a bowl” or “a vase” but one time a couple little brothers said “a castle” and “a dragon” and I thought this was an interesting challenge. Here is the result….