A Potter's Life

I have picked up several new hobbies while I have been over here- Chinese, teaching, Asian beer drinking, British English, Chinese Calligraphy, and Asian beer drinking. But perhaps the most secret of all hobbies was given away in the title of this post- my pottery.

Having never taken a class in pottery, I thought I might give it a go. My sister is the potter of the family,- her works are on display in my home in Byfield, MA- so I thought maybe there might be a bit of that visual artistic gene dancing somewhere in my fingertips as well.

For Christmas, I brought two of my friends to a town called Inge, famous for its decorative and illustrious pottery. We boarded the train at Taipei Main Station and for mere pocket change, we were there in less than thirty minutes. The day was dismal and gray, but our spirits were high as we made our way down a small ally to the local pottery store.

During the week, the place is fairly empty so you can make three items and keep one or pay for the others. On the weekend however, when we arrived, you can only make two and keep one or pay for the other. Well, when I sat down at the wheel, I felt the creative juices flow out of my brain and into the clay. I stayed focused, and interested. I built illustrious vases and bowls and dishes. The owner noticed how intrigued I was by my work and he therefore gave me more and more clay to build as much as I wanted. It was a terrific experience.

After we sculpted our designs with our hands, it was off to the decorating table where one could add design after design onto one's cup or bowl. If you wanted to write a message- go for it. If you wanted to add on clay accessories- that was great too! Anything you wanted was available to you.

The first item I made was a cup from with one can drink tea. However, I found a traditional handle to be just too tacky and Western. I wanted to keep the design simple and Eastern which, of course, has no handle. However, here in lies a problem- with no handle, one burns one hand. I therefore decided to reinvent the Asian Tea Cup by adding nodes around the cup to rest your palm and your finger tips. In case one can't determine where to put one's fingers, as though it weren't obvious enough, I labeled Chinese Characters to direct the lost soul's gripping function.

My second creation is of a pig. I created a candy dish and, at the center is a humbling pig waiting to be discovered by the hand that reaches to deep. A gentle reminder to the gluttons of the party!

My last creation was conceived and produced at Sun Moon Lake. In a previous post, I portrayed the creation sans color. Here is the final product. As a reminder, the characters written on this bowl translates to "My there be enough left from this harvest to start another." Translated to it's western counterpart, "May there always be food in this bowl." The bowl is decorated with a Sun and a Moon symbolizing the location at which it was made followed by the dates.

The story ends sadly, though. On our elated return to Inge to pick up our pottery, a friend of mine was disappointed to discover the shop where we made our pottery had lost her pottery. While disappointing, the shop did manage to salvage the cup she made for her father. After picking our pottery, we made our way over to a restaurant for some delicious noodles. But this was an interesting restaurant because after paying a deposit at the beginning of the meal, you can decide if you want to keep your dish or not. See as I had just moved into my new apartment and had no dish ware, I deemed this to be an excellent souvenir of an equally excellent day.

So with that, your Frederick Hurten Rhead of Inge, Michael.