In Catarina in Nicaragua, we visited
the workspace of two brothers who create beautiful ceramic pieces all by hand.
I took ceramic classes in high school and have ever since loved the craft, but
in my experience everything was modern. We had electric everything, kiln,
wheels, and even machines to press out clay flat for us. Thus, it was really
interesting for me to see the less modern version of the craft. The studio was
small and the only equipment that it had really was a manual wheel, which I had
never even seen or heard of before so when I was told that’s what it would be I
expected them to be spinning it with their hands or something similar. I was
not prepared for the effective contraption that I saw when I arrived. The
artist was able to maneuver the wheel with ease, which I’m sure comes from
years of practice. They also had tools
that they made from scratch, whereas the tools I used in high school were
bought in bulk from some ceramic store somewhere.
Next, we saw how the brothers would
put the designs on their pieces. Within seconds, one brother had designed a
beautiful flour and toucan on one of the mugs that were already glazed. He made
it look so easy! Again, I’m sure from many years of practice. But, it’s
something that I would have had to think about for a while before making a
design, being afraid to make a mistake or design something I didn’t like.
After that, they brought us to their
mother’s house where not only was a giant pig, that was practically waist high,
but also a stone kiln that was run by a wood fire underneath. It was a really
fascinating introduction to a different side of ceramics that I hadn’t seen
before and now I am interested in trying a manual wheel because of it, even
though I’m sure it won’t be as easy as the artists made it look.
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