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It may seem cliche to say, “I didn’t find pottery, pottery found me,” but that is simply what has happened since attending my first Face Mug Party in 2022.
I’ve been around great potters for years, like Roy and Linda Bamfield, Mike Lalone, and Rob Withrow. The pieces they create are beautiful, and they are people truly filled with talent.
I’ve always been intrigued by the idea of making my own pottery, so when my neighbor Rob offered a Face Mug Party at the Brasstown Community Center a couple of years ago, I figured, “Why not, I’ll give it a shot.”
I went with my best friend to the Face Mug party in October 2022. Rob demonstrated to the group how to make a human face and a dog face mug, while also teaching techniques like scoring and sculpting methods. I made this ugly face with big ears that I affectionately named “Earl” after that one song by The Chicks.
I went to the next mug party, and the one after that, until I am going to all of the Face Mug Parties. I had caught the bug.
At the parties, Rob makes the mugs or jugs in advance, and the attendees are given the creative power to sculpt whatever they desire. Most people create either a human face or a dog, but a few take theirs to the next level. Some people turn the jugs on their side and make feet to create a piggy bank, or they create a divot in their mug to sculpt a mountain scene on them.
This creativity, and the ease of the clay, were what truly grabbed me about pottery. Being able to focus my thoughts on this simple act of creating an image in clay was relaxing for me, melting away the stress of everyday life.
I had the opportunity last week to go to Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts in Gatlinburg, Tenn., to take a week-long ceramic sculpture class. Even though I’ve sculpted faces and even critters on several mugs and jugs, I went into the class as a beginner and opened my mind to learning. It takes a lot of vulnerability and willpower to learn something new, which rings true for the phrase “teach an old dog new tricks.”
In the class, I created a 20-inch-tall owl sculpture in four days, beginning with making an armature to get the general structure, then mounding up the clay and slapping it with a paddle into the general shape. The stress relief from being given a paddle and told to smack something as hard as possible is exhilarating.
The class sculpted their pieces until they were about 85 percent done, without putting too much detail into them, because the next part of the class was like a nightmare come to light – we were going to be cutting these sculptures in halves.
All of us in the class were in shock when instructor Bobby Scroggins, professor of ceramics and sculpture at the University of Kentucky, told us the next step of the process. Not only did we cut our sculptures in halves, we also would hollow them out and then put them back together again.
Even though I was in a class with people of varying experience with ceramics, it was good to be on the same level in this regard. Though most of them have created things with clay before, none of the others in class had made sculptures at this magnitude. I was learning from the people around me, and they were learning from me as well.
This is what I have found about pottery, working in the class at Arrowmont and from mug parties: it’s a community. Learning from others and expression are the aspects I’ve seen from the craft. No two potters are alike, and everyone is welcome to play in the clay.
Stacy Van Buskirk is a staff correspondent for the Cherokee Scout. Email her at segv2014@gmail.com.