Tea Bowl (Tokugawa Museum)
I got back into pottery again when I moved to Santa Cruz after living in LA. I was able to find classes through the Adult School here which gave me access to a wheel, materials, and firing. After years of more or less just hacking around, I got more serious about my work when I had an opportunity to go to Japan to study with a potter.
The time in Japan was a life-changing experience in many ways, not the least of which was the firm link to pottery that I developed there. For one thing, pottery has a real presence in Japan as an art form and as a cultural artifact.
Tea Bowl (Tokugawa Museum)
You can't go far in Japan without encountering their great respect for ceramics. It is an important part of Chanoyu (The Way of Tea, otherwise known as the Tea Ceremony) and this has helped set a high standard for handmade ceramics through the national aesthetics. Everywhere from museums, temples, art galleries, to restaurants and private homes feature good quality wares. As a consequence, potters are well-respected as artists and the great ones are venerated. I visited four museums devoted to works of individual potters - Hamada, Kawai, and Kenkichi - and many other museums dedicated to works of a region.
My attitude towards pottery in my life was also alterred by the experience of studying while I was in Japan. During the seven days at the studio of Unokawa Kazumasa, I changed. I didn't really notice anything different at the time but, on returning home at the end of the tour, I immediately felt it. My whole relationship to my work was different.
Back in the U.S. I borrowed a wheel in order to work at home and joined the Pottery Coop at Merrill College, UCSC, where I could fire my work. I don't pretend to be a good potter and I'm not interested in pursuing it as a career, but being able to do it has a very profound meaning to me. I try to work as much as I can, given a full-time job, that I rent studio space, and a tendency to spend too much time hacking around with computers.
I've been back to Japan two more times but not to study as I did the first time. Still, the experience tends to get me excited once again about pottery and for that it is worth every Yen.