Hello all and Happy Monday.
I often find inspiration in unexpected places.
Since starting pottery—a craft that beautifully exemplifies the essence of collaboration in its purest form, I’ve noticed that through throwing clay on a wheel, a new type of collaboration—one that transcends the traditional notion of working alongside another individual and extends to partnering with a machine.
Throwing clay on a wheel is firstly a lot harder than it looks, but also very mesmerising. The wheel becomes an extension of your own hands, responding to touch and guiding the clay into shape. In a way, I’ve been surprised at how intimate the experience is.
The experience of working alongside a pottery wheel challenges conventional notions of collaboration, inviting us to reconsider what it means to partner with technology in the creative process. In this dynamic relationship, the line between creator and creation blurs as the artist relinquishes control of the rhythmic motion of the wheel. It is a collaboration marked by fluidity, spontaneity, and a deep sense of trust—a partnership forged not through words but through touch and movement.
I want to celebrate collaboration in all its forms—whether it’s the shared creation of a painting, the collective improvisation of a jazz ensemble, or the symbiotic dance of clay and wheel in pottery.
In each collaboration, we find inspiration, connection, and the limitless potential of human creativity. As we continue to explore the depths of collaboration in the creative world, let us embrace every opportunity to partner with others, be it fellow artists, technology, or the natural world, in our pursuit of artistic excellence.
Keep shaping, keep spinning, and keep collaborating.
M x