Now that I’m doing a pottery class, I have greater appreciation for the bowls and cups and plates around me. Even simple, crude looking cups are no cinch to make. It’s just as challenging to make something that’s deliberately crude and imperfect as it is to create a perfect form with smooth, even lines. But that’s the kind of ceramic work I like; rough rims, scuffed surfaces, liberal glazes and shapes that aren’t quite perfect.

