The Pains of Clay

Clay. The muddy substance of the earth so recyclable that early civilizations used it to build their homes with. Some still do.

These days, clay is used mostly in art. More common in children's' art, if you ask me, but even that is art in itself.

I don't like clay. I find the medium very unagreeable. It drives my patience to the point where I have none. If I was a master of Zen or some kind of practice that heavily emphasizes patience, maybe Clay class would be easier for me.

It's not.

I realized that, like most people in my class, I'm behind. I need to set away studio time to work on my very elementary learning pieces, but seeing how I can't drive...

Well, you know the rest from there.

As an element of art, I can appreciate the class to no end. I find it rather fun molding and shaping pieces together to form something. In a way, it brings be back to a part of my childhood I've almost forgot about. In that sense, like most of my art when I'm actually doing some work on them, it's very therapeutic.

Would I ever actually make a piece outside of class using that medium? Well, if it wasn't so expensive to buy clay and then get a kilm to fire the piece, I might. And that's without the slab maker and other tools that I have access to in clay class.

Honestly, however, as much as I like the teacher, I'm not enjoying myself in that class simply because I don't know how to work the material to my creative design.