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     Earl Howard
As an Artist, I have tried most mediums, and have found that clay
or ceramics is one of my favorites. I remember as a child, I touched
clay and realized it was a quick but forgiving medium. Now as an
adult and having played with clay for over 9 years on a constant
basis, I have found out that it is just the opposite and that it
has a memory. Clay is one of the mediums that once you try it, you
end up living it. I suggest that if you are looking for a medium
of passion, unforgiveness and concreteness, you need to try clay
as a medium. I still have a passion for drawing and painting, and
these elements come in to play with clay. You can draw and paint
but when you are done, you need to start wedging, molding and actually
making that image into a three-dimensional object. I prefer bowls
and vases to other vessels while throwing on the wheel. I have tried
to make the perfect bowl, and the perfect vase. Along the way of
this quest, you think you may have made it and then you create another
one that's better, then another one. You get all of these bowls and
vases that you like and sometimes love, but when you go to the next
level, which is firing and glazing, there are more elements working
against you. You fire the pot by passing all of the mistakes that
could go wrong with the glaze application and the pot comes out of
the kiln different than your expectations were. This can be in most
cases positive or negative but is the best learning tool. These processes
and steps make clay or ceramics wonderful. As a self-taught potter, I continue to learn from books, and friends in the trade. While volunteering at the Boston Hurley School, I set up a project to complete a wall mural. Some of the children had the chance to touch clay for the first time, as I did when Iwas that age. They started the project with a mural on paper and then they followed the steps for the completed tile project, a landscape of Boston. This kind of project allowed them to get a grasp on “completion”. One of the reasons that I like clay so much is the end product is done and completed, making it permanent, physically and mentally for views or users of the future. Earl Howard
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