Who is a Potter?

The potter, as an ordinary person, making pottery by hand, in a small pottery workshop, can be found in many places around the world. The scale and sophistication of the operation varies a great deal from place to place. In some countries, such as Japan, you can find various kinds of factories, where potters work making pottery by hand. The factories can be a craftspersons shop or studio, a family operation, a local co-operative, or a private business. Whether it is a small or large operation, you can find the makers coming together at times to share tasks such as digging clay or firing kilns. In other places, such as India, pottery can often be a very basic operation where the potter has no electricity and is using very simple tools and equipment.

In some places the potter still uses a very primitive process, making sunbaked pots, or low temperature fired pots, which work very well, but have a short life. In yet other places, ancient skills have been revived, giving the pottery the native characteristics it once had in the past, before modernisation. In many countries pottery is mainly an industrial process, where pottery by hand has all but been eliminated. In the factories the materials and products are highly processed. Machines do most of the work, and the pottery can be made very quickly and cheaply with good results and few problems, using ordinary workers.

Being a potter in an industrialized society, usually means working with clay for interest and pleasure, such as a hobby-potter or an artist-potter. Some people combine a professional career with pottery, such as a teacher or academic scholar, within a college or university. Others might have a part-time job or other sources of income, or make pottery in their spare-time.

Pottery in Japan is an exception. There, in a number of local areas, the very old skills and qualities have survived and are still being practiced by potters. Over time the factories and workshops have been modernised. Now they use a lot of machines and equipment, and the social relations have changed. But the pottery still shows that peculiar beauty which has grown from each area, over a long period of time, from the use of local materials, and from the influence and touch of the maker.

Outside of Japan, the ordinary person might dismiss much of this pottery as looking plain and uninteresting. It might also be considered roughly made or even imperfect. Of course, plainness itself is not an attribute. But handmade, with an emphasis on the natural and the accidental, which reveals rather than seeks to distract, is perhaps a virtue. Outside of Japan this appreciation of pottery is not generally shared. However, I don't believe it requires any special notice. The discerning viewer will see that the pottery has warmth and charm. They will see that the pottery offers much to enjoy, without any kind of heavy or bright appearance. The Japanese always like to tell the story about how the pottery grows. That is, in time, with use, it will become more and more attractive. It is true. The pottery develops colorful patinas of age, and the texture becomes softer and smoother from handling.

There are many schools and colleges offering pottery courses. There are also many leisure and recreation centers for making pottery. A very good way to learn pottery is to visit a potters club where for a fee you will get tuition from the members, as well as have use of the facilities. In Japan you can visit the pottery centers and make some pottery which is later mailed to you. In any city you will be able to find a place to make pottery. Just check the newspapers, magazines, the telephone book and other directories. What do you want to make?