I have been a part of the Niik collective since May of this year, and it has been such a journey…
Here’s a bit of my humble insight into the world in the studio from my eyes and hands:
During the first few sessions working with Lea, I was astounded at the weight of the slip bucket. It seemed so heavy, and my arms would be sore the next day from carrying, lifting, and pouring the slip from vessel to vessel. Now that I have gotten into my rhythm, I can see what they meant by our bodies getting used to it much faster than imaginable.
After a few months of practice, I can pick a full bucket up unphased by its weight day after day. It feels good to know the truth of adaptation and resilience that is carried in my body and mind. During casting, I learned more meticulous focus and exercised my attention to detail.
Watching the casts pull the water out of the slip to form the pieces is beautiful magic. How they change in color from a bright white to a sandstone color around their rims is a small by-product of this art that I have come to know.
I have been taking a hand-building clay course at Northern at the moment. In our first week of class, we were assigned to read some articles: “How Creativity is Helped by Failure” and “Why Ceramics Artists Are So Good at Dealing with Failure.” These themes have also shown up in other sources. I recently read Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert (which we carry in the shop! I highly recommend it) and it helped me to accept this fact. In any concentration, there are drafts and there are ideas that are played with to see what works, and what doesn’t. Some pieces just can’t be made, whether it’s the lack of time, materials available, or to level of difficulty and risk that are put into its creation. These challenges come face-to-face with artists regularly, at least if you are doing it in a way that pushes you towards growth and improvement.
Today, I am still learning to perfect my cleaning skills. There have been times when most of the pieces crack or chip due to lack of presence or awareness with how I come towards the cleaning time. But just trying and putting in that one percent improvement every day helps.
I have learned so much through every step of working at the studio: my vocabulary and knowledge of artistic tools, materials, techniques, and styles have expanded. Learning what a rasp and a rib are, how to use them correctly, how to create a bevel, how to see with my eyes and feel with my hands, how to create the smoothest edges possible, proper holdings, and hand placements to avoid cracking, these tools and practices are all the basics and essentials I’ve been introduced to in the ceramic world thus far. It’s been programming my brain to accept failures as just another element of the process and remain patient throughout every session.
My understanding of how connected I can feel to a place of work has deepened. I have felt truly so grateful for my time and union between the three, (now four!) of us artists together in this collective. I feel so supported, celebrated, respected, and validated as an artist and as a growing apprentice and student of art.
There is still so much to learn and explore, just in this medium alone, which excites me a lot. I have not dipped my brush into the world of glazing or gotten my hands dirty on the wheel quite yet, as I am sticking to the cleaning and casting world thus far. But I am looking forward to those things in the future (whether at the studio or in the classroom) with no rush, but a gentle awaiting for when the right time comes.
Myla Snapp is one of the Studio Assistants at Niik Creative Co., where she works as a shop keeper, plant tender, and as part of the casting production team.
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