this weekend, a group of us traveled outside of the city to a little korean vil
lage placed in the mountains to the korean version of pottery barn. it was a tiny little family-run pottery making place, where, for 15,ooo won (about 15 US dollars) you can spend a day learning the ins and outs of this beautiful art. we got a little time on the wheel, then spent the next couple of hours in a dingy room re-living the days of 6th grade art class. they brought out the long coils of clay and away we went. actually, not we, they. i opted instead to paint the bowl i had made on the wheel (well, actually a replica of the bowl that had already but put t
hrough the kiln.) i remember the horrible feeling of trying to do coil pots in the 6th grade and watching it turn into a misshapen lumpy looking blob that resembled the cookies i used to make out of mud that me and my sisters let "bake" in the sun on the ledge of the tree house when i was 5...) and i didn't really want to re-visit those feelings of disspointment and insecurity. so i painted and it was super fun! they will put them through the kiln and will glaze them for us and send them in the mail in a few weeks. what an exciting day that 
will be! "special delivery! one beautiful piece of art for a ms. carolyn sybesma. wow, you are some artist, mam." ican't wait.
so anyway, this is me on the wheel being shown what to do by the korean instructor.
look at the bowl i made! look at my clay-ey hands! look at hannah in the background sneaking in on the picture! look how many sentances i can write with exclamation points!
it was a really beautiful place we were in. this was some of the scenery surrounding us as the sun was setting. i love korea.
7 comments:
Making pottery is one my list of 50 things to do before I turn 50. Technically, I only have 37 things on the list so far, but I've got some time to think of more. However, I feel very insecure about attempting to make pottery. I have this feeling deep inside of me that I'm going to be horrible at it and it's always been my philosophy that if you're not going to be the best at something, why even try? So far that philosophy has been kind of limiting, because there just aren't that many things that I'm really good at. Maybe I'll suck it up and just go try it some weekend...Or maybe I'll just take it off my list and stop stressing out about it.
PS - The title of your post reminded me that one thing that I am really good at is playing that praise and worship song on the piano that goes "You are the potter. I am the clay...etc." It's very flowly and in my head right now at my desk I'm envisioning my fingers flying with grace and ease over the piano keys, eyes closed, singing along quietly as I play.
Jen, you are also very good at making me laugh- case in point- I'm sitting at my desk right now trying to stifle my giggles as I picture you playing that song. The funniest part is the eyes closed, quietly singing along.
Carolyn, in that one picture your dancing hands are out- remember how I told you how you always hold your hands when you dance? That's it.
I also really, really want to make pottery sometime. I think Jen and I should go together. Also on the list- yoga, recycling, an african safari and ... hmmm, probably a lot more things.
I miss you. And love you.
Also Carolyn, as your sister who wants you to appear intelligent I will continue to point these out:
Dissapointment= disappointment
mam= ma'am
sentances= sentences
There you go. Don't feel bad though, I'm really impressed that you spelled misshapen and dingy right!
jen, i got my title from that song!!! we were all singing it on saturday while we were there and now it's been in my head. "you are the potter, i am the clay. mold me and make me. this is what i praaaaaay..." ah, the praise and worship phase. tric, oh dancing! i love it. that will be my signature move until the day i die. and thanks for the spelling tips. i had a really tough time with misshapen. i think i wrote it about 5 different ways. i just kept adding more s's and taking them away.
You do both realize that "I am the potter, you are the clay..." is originally from the Bible, right? It's not just a praise and worship song, clever as they are...
ah! that looks awesome! you do fun stuff; justin and i are like old men. :) haha!
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