Pottery Wheel vs. Hand-Building

When I tell people I make pottery (I rarely refer to myself as an artist but that’s a discussion for another day) I imagine most people picture something sexy or elegant at a pottery wheel. It’s giving Ghost! It’s giving…wow not a lot of sexy pottery scenes in movies, never mind. Anyways, while I have: taken several classes on how to use a pottery wheel, I personally own a pottery wheel, I am somewhat comfortable on a pottery wheel you will rarely see me use one in my art. What gives?

The reason behind this is twofold:

1)      I don’t possess a love for it. I’m just ok at using one. I get to see SO MANY examples of beautiful, creative wheel thrown pieces at the studio I work out of. It’s inspiring and it’s intimidating and it’s just not in my wheelhouse (ha!).

2)      I am obsessed with hand-building!

Hand-building is definitely not as popular as the wheel. When it goes right, the wheel is supremely satisfying watching a little ball of clay spin and morph into something (nearly) perfect. When hand-building goes right I’m like look I made a tiny kitty cat, I’ve never been happier.

Wtf is hand-building anyways?

Hand-building just means making ceramic art without the use of a wheel. You can use coils, you can use slabs, you can sculpt, pinch or carve. You can do basically anything you want (except make anything perfectly round and symmetrical). I find that totally amazing and exciting. It’s fun to be creative and silly like I’m back in kindergarten using playdoh. You will see a lot of miniaturized buildings, structures and items in my work - who doesn’t love a good diorama?! You want a planter that is shaped like a donkey? Have I got news for you!!

Anyways, I still enjoy using a pottery wheel. When I do a good job I definitely feel superior to most people, like I know a magic trick they don’t. But in general you can most often find me rolling out coils and slabs trying to figure out how to build a mini pool that doubles as a ring dish. You will definitely continue to see examples from both mediums in my work but if you were wondering why I don’t have a shit ton of mugs on offer, now you know!