A "Professional" Potter

You might remember that I had the very good fortune of finding a beautiful pottery studio during my first week in Berlin.  Then the owner, Cordula, gave me the incredible opportunity to run her shop while she was on vacation with her family.  If you forget that story, you can always read it again.  It's basically one of the best things that happened to me in Berlin.  And the great news is, my pottery story has continued to get better and better!

At this time, I would really like to formally introduce you to Cordula... well, as formally as one can introduce another person via blog post.  

Here she is, standing in front of her beautiful pottery!  Cordula has owned Feuer Zeug Keramik for about 13 years and opened the shop after finishing her degree in ceramics.  I don't know if this is actually true, but from my perspective, she is a bit of an institution when it comes to pottery in Berlin.  She has taught countless pottery classes to people all over the city and she provides a firing service, meaning she will bake other people's raw pots in her kiln.  A month ago, I went to an art exhibit featuring sculptures by a local artist that Cordula had fired!  

Outside of her pottery life, Cordula has a lovely family and a very sweet one-and-a-half-year-old that keeps her on her toes.  Which brings me to my next point...

Running a pottery business and raising a child can occasionally conflict with one another.  The waiting list for Cordula's classes had been building up, so one day, I took a leap and mentioned that although I had never taught a class before, I would be very interested in trying if it might help her.  Admittedly, I have never studied ceramics the way Cordula did in a university, but I do have 5-6 years of experience under my belt, I have had 3 terrific teachers (Erica, Tom, and Audry), and I have quality educators in my family tree.  I can't think of a better way to share my love for pottery than teaching it to other people, and I had confidence that I would be able to explain the process to a group of beginners.  

Cordula took me up on the offer.  

Two weeks later, I was opening the graffitied shutters to Cordula's brother's wine shop.  

The teaching studio is in the room behind the wine shop.  Just past that white door is a magical world of clay!

In the studio, there are five wheels where I taught my very first class of five students for 2 hours every Wednesday at 11am.  

It was quite an international group.  We had representation from Germany (obviously), Switzerland, Spain, the US (that was me), and Austrailia!  I taught in English which worked well most of the time.  Every now and again I'd say a less common word and get some confused looks.  "Spin the wheel" was a minor issue... I guess spin isn't at the top of the English vocab list.  But generally I'd say it went pretty smoothly!  

My students were lovely people and very eager to learn pottery.  I made sure to arrive at least 30 minutes early so I could get set up because a few of them would be waiting at the door by a quarter of eleven, anxious to dive into the clay.  

I started each class with a demonstration of how to throw a bowl or a cup using the wheel while providing verbal instructions so my students could absorb the techniques visually and auditorially before trying it out themselves.  Cordula was in the studio during my first class and listened in on my instructions as she unloaded the kiln.  

The next time I saw her she gave me one of the best compliments I may have ever received.  

She casually asked, "Do you know who Bob Ross is?"  

YES!  I LOVE Bob Ross.  If you've never watched his show, "The Joy Of Painting," you just gotta do it.  Particularly if you are feeling stressed in any way, or maybe a bit overwhelmed and you just want to bliss out for thirty minutes (I mean that in a drug-free way) while feeling truly empowered a the same time.  Bob Ross has a magical way of making everyone feel like they too can be the most incredible artist as well as the happiest person on the face of the Earth.  He's simply mesmerizing.  

I'm not sure which components of my pottery instructions were Bob Ross-like, but I don't think it was my hairstyle that caused her to draw the comparison.  

Student pottery before glaze

Although my students each learned that pottery is much harder than it looks, in the end, all five were able to take home at least 3 pieces that I think they deserve to feel proud of!  I certainly was proud of each of them. 

I was glad to be the one to unload the kiln to reveal their finished products.  

Vases, bowls, and cups came out in a rich assortment of colors.  I might be a bit biased, but compared to other new students, I think my class's pieces were among the best!  Not bad for first-time potters!

Meanwhile, I've continued to work on my own projects in the shop.  Cordula lets me open the store and work on the wheel during the days that she is home with her little son.  Even though I have several years of pottery behind me, I still feel like my work gets a little bit better with each piece that I make.  The walls of the mug get a little thinner, the handle becomes better proportioned, the whole thing is a bit larger so you can have an adult-sized cup of coffee rather than a shot of espresso. 

I like making cuvier mugs with a big bottom and a skinny neck toward top like the collection in the picture above.  I think it helps your beverage stay hotter a little bit longer since there is less surface area exposed to the cool air.  

I've been working on teapots too.  They are a bit trickier and definitely a time-consuming process.  There is a reason why handmade teapots cost upwards of $75.  Attaching a spout is no joke!  

I'm quite pleased with my unglazed collection!

My mugs work well too!  They are the perfect size for a latte macchiato just the way I like it: 

2 ounces of espresso

a solid cup of foamed milk

 and a generous portion of cinnamon and sugar!

Helping Cordula in her shop and working on my projects has lead to an incredibly fulfilling existence in Berlin.  It's a rare and special opportunity when a person is able to create an entirely new identity for themselves.  I don't mean that I have become a different person.  Of course I am the same "me" that I've always been, but I realized that a huge part of our identity, at least in the US, is defined by our occupation.  I've always been very proud of my job as an Occupational Therapist, but I wasn't going to be able to do that during our time in Germany.   That lead me to the existential questions of, "Why am I here?  What is my purpose?"  Well, here my time and energy that isn't going to my wonderful fiancé has been fully directed at my art. 

Toward the end of pottery class one day, my student Chris asked me, "So are you like, a professional potter?" 

I had to think about it for a second.  My instinctual response was to laugh and think "No, I'm an OT!"  I've spent over a decade either in OT school or actually working as a therapist, so the idea of being something other than that hadn't ever even crossed my mind.  But as I considered Chris's question, I realized that I was spending a significant portion of my week covered in clay and now that I was teaching, my only source of income (besides Fritz) was through pottery.  I don't know what it takes to be classified as a "professional potter."  Perhaps I need to sell some of my stuff instead of giving it all away.  Perhaps I need to teach a few more classes to be a true professional.  Or perhaps it's as simple as feeling it as a significant part of my identity.  

The truth is, I absolutely LOVE making pottery.  There are few things that cause me to feel more relaxed (lying on the beach in the summer sun might take the cake but I don't think "professional beach bum" counts as an occupation) and simultaneously accomplished than making a piece of art that is fully functional.  And isn't that what pottery is?  Functional art.  It's perfect!  Being able to share this love with my five students as they learned the magic of transforming a messy blob of clay into something they can use and feel proud of brought my enjoyment of the craft to a brand new level.  

Cordula could not have known the impact of her decision to entrust Feuer Zeug Keramic to an American stranger when I showed up on her doorstep the last week of January.  But for some reason, she decided to trust me.  She decided to give me an opportunity.  And in so doing, she gave my life in Berlin purpose and meaning.  Life in Frankfurt was wonderful: reading, exploring, taking pictures, blogging...  But Berlin is different.  Here, I have a schedule.  I have a place to go, a responsibility.  I wake up each morning thinking about what I'm going to make!  I have work to do.  

Here, I am a professional potter!

Birthday Photography and Life

Photo by Karin

Three years ago, my thoughtful fiancée gave me an awesome Christmas present: a Fujifilm X20 camera.  Basically, it has been glued to my side since he gave it to me and it is what I have been using to take all of our Germany Adventure photos.

It's awesome because it's light and little, but the optics are really good and it has all the manual options that a huge, heavy SLR (single lens reflex) camera would have.  Since I got the camera, I've been learning by trial-and-error how to use the manual settings as well as some of the other fun features (like when I take double exposures).  Still, my photography knowledge was a random hodge-podge of information acquired by reading the camera manual and soaking up as much information as possible  from my wise photographer friends.

Once again, my thoughtful fiancée struck with yet another gift that keeps on giving... for my 30th birthday he enrolled me in a Photography Workshop where I could formally learn the ins and outs of photography.  

We met on a Sunday morning at a funky cafe in East Berlin.  You can see the cafe ceiling in the picture above.  

Here Paul spent 3 hours breaking down the elements of exposure and how to control them using our respective cameras.  There were 6 people in our aspiring crew and we represented at least 5 different countries.  I was the only American in the group.  I was also the one asking most of the questions.  I'm not sure if these two factors have anything to do with one another, but hopefully I didn't come off as being too obnoxious with my inquisitive nature.  I just wanted to learn!

Paul was a wealth of knowledge touching on the mechanics of photography as well as artistic composition, and he even discussed the ethics of being a photographer.  Considering my current lifestyle, it was good to hear about the ethics of "street photography" and how to approach a stranger if you are hoping to take their portrait.  I'm not sure if I have the nerve to approach a stranger on the streets of Berlin, but at least now I know how to do it politely.  

After our instructional period, Paul led us out to the streets where we were able to practice everything.  We paired up and Karin from Austria, pictured above, became my partner.  We practiced taking each other's portraits using a shallow depth of field.  This is what happens when you make your subject very clear and sharp while the background is blurred out.  It's one of my favorite photography techniques.  I think it makes photos so interesting and portraits so beautiful!

Photo by Karin

Karin took this one of me.  I think she made me laugh about something but I don't remember what exactly. 

Here is another fellow in my class.  

Peace Karin!

We also experimented with shutter speed, which has to do with how long the digital sensor (or the film in the old days) is exposed to the light.  If you leave the shutter open for a long time, it would cause a photo of a moving figured to look very blurry.  So if you have someone jumping, like Paul here, you want the shutter to be open for a very short period of time.  

Paul's final advice to us, so that we might all become better photographers, was simply to get up and go outside.  "Go take pictures," he said.  You are never going to get that great photo if you weren't there to take it.  Carpe Photo 'em!  And really, isn't that how we should live our lives every day?  I'm glad I have my little Fujifilm to push me to experience the world around me and to give me an excuse to leave the couch and soak up my surroundings. But I hope I never forget that living my life is a choice I get to make every morning when I wake up, and I don't always need a camera to do it.  I will turn 30 years old this evening at exactly 6:34 and 19 seconds.  That isn't a ton of years, but it is long enough to look back and feel proud of all the living I have done so far and feel excited about all the living I have yet to do!  

I stood and watched this street performer sing "Stand By Me" under a bridge at a bustling intersection in East Berlin.  Thanks to my camera and all the thoughtful gifts that Fritz has given me, I will always have this image to help me remember the feelings that filled me on this day as well as the commitment I have made to live every day of my life on purpose.  

Getting Things Started

Everything has been going smoothly so far.  Our place is great.  There is a grocery store and a Chinese restaurant within 3 blocks so really, what more could anyone ask for?  We've gone running through the nearby neighborhoods and found several lovely parks.  

Here's a view of a typical corner in our neighborhood.  I had absolutely no idea what Frankfurt would look like before arriving, though I imagined a lot of concrete and skyscrapers.  Instead, our surrounding streets are cozy with plenty of trees and quaint architecture.  

There are plenty of cafes with free copies of the daily newspaper or zeitung which Fritz has enjoyed reading to get the scoop on the local politics and perspectives.  

Fritz's first day of class!  Since we don't have any moms here to do the traditional first day of school photo, I snapped a shot just before Fritz headed into his German immersion language course, which he will be in every day for the next 5 weeks.  He's already quite functional, which I know given my extensive understanding of the German language (NOT!), but this course should really give him a jump on fluency.  

And it's a good thing too.  Getting off the plane and stepping into a country where I am completely illiterate and unable to communicate was a bit of an eye opener for me.  I, of course, knew I didn't speak any German before arriving, but it's another story entirely to be suddenly surrounded by people and signs that make absolutely no sense to me!  If it wasn't for Fritz, I know I would have felt quite lost these first few days.  I won't say it was scary, but certainly a novel predicament.  It's a thrilling experience to find myself this far outside my comfort zone!

So I immediately plunged into an online German program.  In the picture above, I am learning how to say "The woman eats an apple." (Die Frau isst einen Apfel.)  I plan on using that expression frequently.  Anyway, it's a start!

Fritz's school is 2 U-bahn (pronounced oo-bon) stops away from the shopping center of the city- a long pedestrian street called Zeil lined with stores carrying all the hottest German fashions.  The bookstore (pictured above) was a necessary stop to pick up his course book for his class, which is right off of Zeil.  I thought Barnes and Noble was impressive... this 3-story book heaven with escalators and modern reading pods is a bookstore on steroids!  The Germans don't mess around when it comes to books!  

The bookstore is lovely to say the least.  Unfortunately I'm pretty limited to the books I can understand... most are in German.  Though I did manage to find the craft section whose books are mainly composed of pictures.  Works for me!  After getting his text books, I walked Fritz to the U-bahn station and spent the next 3 hours perusing/inventorying the many shops along Zeil.

Necessities for an afternoon in Frankfurt: a sizable tote, a scarf, a US passport, a camera, a local map, journal, the local currency, sunglasses.  I had to add an umbrella halfway through the day when I got stuck in a mighty downpour!