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When I set up my next studio, I made the decision to raise my wheel so that I could stand to throw and sit to decorate. This forced me to change positions regularly, elongating my spine and rolling my shoulders back before each task. This small shift changed my perspective, it allowed me to step back (literally and figuratively) and actually see the work. It also allowed me to view my work from many angles not just the foreshortened view I had become accustomed to.
Once I got used to throwing standing up, my pots quickly transformed from short and squat, to tall and thin. I found myself walking away from the piece in between pulls just to see its silhouette from afar and to confirm the placement of the belly or shoulder. I experienced a sense of freedom in this transition from my seated wheel position as if the chair and the pedal had chained me. Not to say that I don’t experience fatigue from throwing while standing, but this seems more manageable.
I was content with this setup for years until one day, in an effort to beautify my basement studio space, I set a mirror in front of my wheel. Just like the transition I made in throwing, having the opportunity to see the piece from a new perspective again changed the work. Rather than looking downward at the top of my hands, now I could look forward into the mirror where my movements could become more refined. I could watch my hands from my perspective and through the mirror, shifting my view form my interior hand to my exterior hand.
Lindsay Scypta is a studio potter and adjunct instructor at Lourdes University and Owens Community College in Toledo, Ohio. She teaches community classes locally and workshops nationally. See more at www.LindsayScypta.com, on Instagram @lindsayscpta, and on Facebook at Lindsay Scypta Ceramics.
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