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offcntrI had to explain my business name last weekend.
I do that all the time: People will say "Off Center Ceramics?" and I say "Off Center refers to the potter, not the pottery." And we laugh, and go on.
This guy continued, "Why not Eccentric Ceramics?" and I said "Eccentric is a term from astronomy--it means an orbit that deviates from circular. Or in geology, it's a rock that's out of its proper stratigraphic place." (Wrong. That's an erratic. In fact, there used to be a rather good bluegrass band from Alaska called the Glacial Erratics. But I digress.) (Regularly. Repeatedly. Get used to it.) "Centering is a ceramic term."
Turns out he'd never heard of centering. Not the new-age, woo-woo take a deep breath and become one with the cosmos Esalen centering, but the potter's centering. Position your hands, brace your elbows on knees, kick up the wheel and show the clay who's boss. The process that makes the lump of clay smooth and symmetrical, so the pot comes up evenly, with no thick or thin spots in the wall, high or low spots on the rim.
So we talk a little about the throwing process, and I hope he came away with a better appreciation for the interaction between potter and clay that creates this work.
If not an appreciation for my off-center sense of humor.
I do that all the time: People will say "Off Center Ceramics?" and I say "Off Center refers to the potter, not the pottery." And we laugh, and go on.
This guy continued, "Why not Eccentric Ceramics?" and I said "Eccentric is a term from astronomy--it means an orbit that deviates from circular. Or in geology, it's a rock that's out of its proper stratigraphic place." (Wrong. That's an erratic. In fact, there used to be a rather good bluegrass band from Alaska called the Glacial Erratics. But I digress.) (Regularly. Repeatedly. Get used to it.) "Centering is a ceramic term."
Turns out he'd never heard of centering. Not the new-age, woo-woo take a deep breath and become one with the cosmos Esalen centering, but the potter's centering. Position your hands, brace your elbows on knees, kick up the wheel and show the clay who's boss. The process that makes the lump of clay smooth and symmetrical, so the pot comes up evenly, with no thick or thin spots in the wall, high or low spots on the rim.
So we talk a little about the throwing process, and I hope he came away with a better appreciation for the interaction between potter and clay that creates this work.
If not an appreciation for my off-center sense of humor.