20 QUESTIONS
- If you learned you had 6 months to live, would your work in clay change? [If it would, why would it take a death sentence to make this happen?]
- Can you describe a single unforgettable pot that you have encountered at some point in your life?
- Can you share with us any of the ways you measure success in what you make?
- What was your life like before you began to work in clay?
- Of all the words you have heard or read about ceramics, is there a single phrase or sentence that stands out in your memory as being especially meaningful?
- Do you believe a pot can change the course of a human life? If so, how? If not, why not? How are you sure?
- Aren't there already enough pots?
- What is the difference in encountering a pot that you like and being inspired by a pot?
- Some work we encounter reinforces what we already know, and other work challenges what we already know. Can you describe the work of two contemporary ceramists that has those effects on you?
- Can you describe a pot you have lived with for more that 5 years, and share with us why it is important to you?
- Why, in our culture, do more women than men buy pots?
- If any pot in the world could be yours, which one would you choose, and why?
- Why can a pot never be successfully photographed?
- To what degree are you curious about the materials we use?
- If you judge a pot you have made to be awful and someone whose opinion you respect believes it to be wonderful, do you try to resolve the difference? If so, how?
- Can you recall any comments about your work by another person that influenced what you have come to make?
- If you could work with clay at any other period of time, what era would you choose and why?
- If you had to choose one piece that you have made as being The Best you have ever made, could you do so?
- How do you gain confidence in knowing what direction your work should take?
- Can you describe a broken pot whose memory you carry, and which has meaning for you?