#3 - On becoming clay

That day in Kreuzberg, Delfina Solari, our instructor for the clay class, taught us a few things she knows about making pots: “There’s an idealization of the wheel but it’s just a tool.”, “My hand is very handy.” and “It’s just clay, don’t get too attached.”

In preparation for that session, we read a chapter by Lambros Malafouris titled “Becoming One with the Clay” (2016). To have a more nurturing ground for a discussion of this text connected to the session two weeks before - where we made boomerangs out of wood - we had a wheel-throwing ceramics workshop with Delfina Solari at “Peace Out Paradise” (Dieffenbachstraße 35 - 2nd Backyard, 10967 Berlin - https://www.peaceoutparadise.com/). We got a very informative walk-through of the space and all its contents and afterward, we were taught how to wheel-throw with a demonstration by Delfina. After all the input, we could try our own luck and have fun with the clay on the wheel, while trying to create either a cup or a bowl. If we were struggling, we either asked Delfina or each other for help.

Part One: Hands-on practice

Part Two: Discussion of the readings

After completing our masterpieces, we cleaned up and sat in the backyard to have a short discussion about our experience, the texts and the last session. This concluded our experience with making with clay. We started with a short discussion in connection with the text: Malafouris, Lambros. “Chapter 9: Becoming One with the Clay.” In How Things Shape the Mind: A Theory of Material Engagement. MIT Press, 2016. and also in comparison to the last session of boomerang-making. Someone named clay as the protagonist and said that it is a bigger protagonist compared to other materials, for example a boomerang. The making of an object made out of clay is also softer than boomerang making. There was a note someone made on the process of documenting a material making process: “It is looking from above and therefore also more difficult to get fully into the process of making. You just experience what is there and then remember”. A way to be more present and not looking from above would be a different way of documenting, a memory protocol. Talking about a setting with one teacher and a group, like in a workshop, there is also a discrepancy between showing (teacher) and making (students), as well as that there is an additional actor present, it’s not just you and the material, it is you, the material and the teacher. In the end, we discussed the importance of centering in wheel-trowing (essential) compared to the importance of centering while writing: “Is your writing centered? Almost Never.” With the clay, you have to center in the beginning but with writing you often center in the end with for example the conclusion, or by also writing the introduction in the end. A quote from that part of the discussion: “Throwing the lump is like dancing.” Sharon also gave us a book recommendation: “The White Road” (2015) by Edmund de Waal (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374289263/thewhiteroad) He writes about the relationship between pottery and writing, he does both and says books and clay are intermingled in his studio.

To end the blogpost a short film recommendation by Delfina Solari: