That guy

In the summer of 1990, while I was was working at a summer camp in Connecticut, I took a trip on my day off to Cornwall Bridge Pottery. I was ceramics shop head that year, and thought the kids would enjoy a field trip to a real, working pottery, so I thought I'd scout around.

Cornwall Bridge was founded by Todd Piker, one of Michael Cardew's American apprentices. He was very friendly, enthusiastic about a busload of kids showing up. The pottery made wood-fired ware, English-craft-revival-meets-early-American, and the day I arrived, they were preparing to fire their wood kiln. I watched them sorting and wadding pots, stacking wood, poked my head into the kiln. But mostly, I watched their decorator.

I'm sad to say, I don't remember his name. He was a local potter, had his own studio, but came to work for Todd one or two days a month, just painting on pots. He was doing early American birds as I watched him, drawn in iron oxide, one after another, amazingly consistent, amazingly fast. I couldn't imagine being able to work like that.

Last Friday, after a week's glazing, I was finishing up with soup bowls, painting half a dozen hummingbirds, and I found myself thinking, Oh my god! I'm that guy!