Unrealistic Expectations

[beautifulfreak]

I've been having a problem with students with unrealistic expectations about what that can accomplish in short 6-7 week pottery class. And it is also mixed with the lack of student patience to practice and work to attain the skills needed to accomplish their expectations.

I try the first class to explain what they can expect to make, i.e. small bowls, maybe some candle holders. I also explain learning to throw takes time and the short 6 weeks class is just a introduction and it takes years to master clay. I explain that centering is an essential skill and an uncentered lump will make an uncentered pot so it is very important to center the clay first before making the hole to start making the pot.

So what I get are students with grand expectations as they are sure they are the exception to the rule an they will have birdbath size bowls by the end of the class. Or I end up with students after spending a whole 15 minutes trying to center stick their thumb in the clay and make a hole and try to throw a bowl and wonder what went wrong when it very quickly becomes a mess instead of a pot.

I try to explain to the frustrated birdbath maker that sizable bowls only comes with time, practice, and patience I restress the importance of center to those that are rushing it and again suggest time, practice and patience.

I've tried to put it in terms they understand i.e. 'ya gotta crawl before you walk, and ya gotta walk before you run and you might fall down a few times before you can do any of it' but I don't think I am getting thru. I end up with students wanting me to center their clay so they can get on with pot making.

These are adult students, they have no patience to work to attain the skill. How do I sooth the frustrations and encourage them to keep working towards the goal of center when they plainly haven't the patience for the task?

[Shamrock15]

I would say to not spoon feed them. You aren't doing them any favours, either in terms of "their" work or their interest in the hobby. For anyone to develop a genuine interest in their work, they have to be honest with themselves. Don't lower your standards. That might just be the best lesson you can give them, and it isn't cash refundable.

[WFMartin]

Well, I'm no "potter", but you have succeeded in piquing MY interest regarding this "centering" requirement. It makes sense to me, and I'd like to understand just how that is supposed to be accomplished. I already understand the importance of it. It doesn't sound all that difficult to me, but I'd like to know the procedure. Can you offer a few steps that will give me some idea?

Personally, I'd try drawing a couple of criss-cross lines across the wheel, from the outer edges, and place the clay where they cross. But, what do I know?

I'll trade a few oil painting tricks for that info.

Just curious.

[beautifulfreak]

Centering isn't an easy skill to solve. It does seem in theory easy, place clay in center of wheel but its not that simple. Your lump of clay is not a true circular lump, clay is fluid and moves at the slightest touch and aiming your clay towards center and perfectly centered are two separate things.

First I stress the importance of letting go of the world, your worries, your aggravations and just let the world between the wheel, your clay and you exist. You aim for center of the wheel, but the clay must land with enough force to attach by suction and surface tension to the wheelhead. Next you wet the clay and your hands, water is your lubricant. Tuck your elbows into your hips and ground yourself(become an immovable force). You get the wheel spinning and touch the bottom of your lump of clay with the bottom side of your palm and you push towards center. The object being to move the clay not have the clay move you. Raise the pressure on your hand from the bottom side up the backward L to the base of your thumb gradually pressing the clay towards center as you raise where your clay pressure point is. Don't get distracted as you can easily lose center by an errant touch. If the clay lump gets too tall press the top of the lump down with your crossed thumbs. Keep centering. Once the clay stops wobbling or doing the hula it is centered and you can proceed to the next step.

Actually centering clay is a great way of learning to focus and center in other areas of your life. Most potters I know are very grounded, but clay sure ain't for wimps.

[JesterDev]

These days is seems everyone wants "instant gratification" because it's offered almost everywhere. You need to stress this too them first thing, just as you are doing. Don't expect every student in your class to succeed and become a potter, most times it's only a handful that will take the time to practice and become masters of the art, so stop stressing.

Another thing, the centering should be shown to them a few times, and then you could assist with the centering and help them to learn. Tell them "lets do this together and together we will figure this out".

Most of them are not truly interested in the idea, but just want to say "I made this!" and have something that they can be proud of, and never look back at the idea of doing it again. I know that you want to teach the world, and help everyone learn this great art, but you have to realize that not everyone is suited for it. Anyone can do it with enough practice, but not everyone is going too. Make sense?

Just remember that patience is lacking for most people these days. Teach patience, focus on patience, and DO NOT baby your students if you want them to succeed.

Good luck, and don't ever give up.

[madmonkey]

I was a nursing maj until a friend invited me into her garage, she thought it would be funny to have me cut off my perfectly manicured nails.

I called her bluff cut the nails 1st pot=disaster 2nd pot=12"h 6" perfect walls.

Fell in love, had a potters wheel & elec kiln shipped to my house 2 days later changed major to fine art the next semester.

Alas, after 12 years of mud heaven developed allergies to mold & preservatives used to prevent mold in clay. After 6 rounds of bacterial pneumonia (i'm a little hard headed, which is required to work w/clay) sold the studio equip and began painting in oil.

Ceramic sculpture & wheel throwing is not for wimps. There is a high % of loss which can occur along any step of the way, especially in the beginning.

Is a semester of handbuilding a prerequisite? if not it should be.

[Horsa]

Introduce them to Chinese Brush Painting. Some masters will paint a single stalk of bamboo thousands of times, always the same stalk, no variation, and still not feel they have learned it properly.

I used to learn and teach blacksmithing. The same expectation of being able to master it at once, after all how hard can it be to hit a piece of iron?

The sign of someone who is skilled is they make a hard thing look easy.

Sounds like your students need to learn humility.

[Use Her Name]

Originally Posted by beautifulfreak

So what I get are students with grand expectations as they are sure they are the exception to the rule an they will have birdbath size bowls by the end of the class. Or I end up with students after spending a whole 15 minutes trying to center stick their thumb in the clay and make a hole and try to throw a bowl and wonder what went wrong when it very quickly becomes a mess instead of a pot.

As a teacher, you give demonstrations, and give them your expertise. As adult learners, they have a different, experimental level of learning, rather than the step by step approach usually used to teach children. I think a "free for all" type approach is good for adults. They get what you are saying about "years of training and practice." The're just paying for a class and want to entertain and amuse themselves and maybe bring home a decent flower pot.

[beautifulfreak]

Without patience I doubt a decent flower pot is ever going to be achieved.

I demo every class before they start to throw, I show the steps...if you don't follow the steps you don't get a pot. I know there are those that just want to try it but I find those students actually have more realistic expectations than those that seem to come to me with a long term plan of 'becoming a potter'. The ones that come to me to merely give it a try are just wanting a little pot or more to show they could do it 'like on the movie Ghost'. They aren't the frustrated impatient ones, its the ones that come to me with large dreams of making themselves a potter and thinking it will happen overnight are the ones I can't seem to convince about it taking effort and practice.

[mariposa-art]

I've done some pottery and I know all about centering. Yeah, it's hard! (I was a disaster at pottery when I first tried it. I was stubborn, though. VERY stubborn. I got better. Not really good, but better. It took a long time. But since my work was mostly about surface design anyway, I guess I can consider my wheel throwing "good enough.")

It sounds like you have done the best you can to prepare your students. I guess we live in a world where instant gratification is the expectation.

Probably some people are more patient than others and that's how it's always been. I also wonder (could be completely wrong) that some adults figure that they are "smart" so they can learn it quicker. Or they think, how hard can it be? I do know that some people assume that they have "talent," so all this practice stuff is not for them. "Talent" means that you don't have to practice, that it all comes instantly.

But I really don't know what might be going on!

[CallMeCordelia]

I know that you are dealing with adult learners and not kids, but maybe this could help them, too. My seven-year-old son recently took a 6-week pottery class. The students spent the first few weeks making pieces that were not done on the wheel. They were cut out and stuck together. (Is this the hand building that MadMonkey mentioned?) They produced some lovely pieces (almost instant gratification) while they learned how the clay behaves and how to glaze. They then moved on to the wheel and my son produced a great little bowl. It is symetrical, but it is also very small. It was hard to make the little bowl, but I think that it helped that he had already made some very nice things, so he had those to show off. The bowl is humble, but well done.

I think having the fancy-looking windchimes, etc. satisfied that desire to have something to really show off. However, the little bowl that he made on the wheel is special because it was difficult. Maybe if your adult learners had some nice, but easier to make piececs to show their friends and family, they would settle down and listen when you are trying to help them use the wheel correctly. Good luck, you are in a tough situation.

Noelle

[cjorgensen]

I took pottery a long time ago, I was a young adult. I wasn't trying to become a potter, but I needed a break to get out of the house (I was a new mom). Clay does take patience. I liked pottery becuase I could focus, unlike chasing my toddlers all day. I needed something that I could really involve myself and zone-out and forget the babies for a couple of hours. I remember the teacher told us to brace our arms against our bodies and slowly lean in to the clay and hold still until the clay conformed. There really is no fast way. Pushing on the clay too hard just wraps it all up.

You can't build a house without a good foundation.
You can't play an instrument without praciticing your scales.
You can't learn to dance without doing the steps over and over.
You need to do whatever it is enough until you have "muscle memory".

The people who can through beautiful pots have done it thousands of time, so NOW it comes naturally, but everyone had to start as a beginner.

(I remember seeing a beautiful bowl for sale. It was small, thin, delicate, with a lizard and leaves carved into it. They told me the glaze was celadon, and it looked like jade. It was breathtaking. The price was $300. A lady came by and said, "$300 for this? I'll take a pottery class and make one myself.)

I am not a teacher, and I am not a potter, and I KNOW you know what you are doing, but maybe these might help.

[Spudboy]

I don't teach art, but I do teach language. I don't think many in the classroom (college students) have any major expectations to speak of, but I try to avoid deflating whatever expectations they may have.

Usually, I start out saying something along the lines of "Any of you who want to achieve native level pronunciation need to practice it as much as possible. If you don't practice, you'll know why you don't get there." "When you practice, be attentive to what you are doing. If you think you're not doing something right, change what you're doing." "If you want to be able to speak better, you need to speak as often as possible. Same for reading, listening, etc." I try to keep the message positive, while egging them on now and again.

I realize that in a workshop setting where students may only have access to the tools once a week, and for only a limited time, that they won't get enough practice time in. But it might help to emphasize the practice aspect (what they can do) as opposed to what they won't be able to do.

[jocko500]

tell them it a way to get stress out of they life and to get a new mind set . tell them is a way to learn a new way to get the hands strong for they partners in marriage lol
if that do now work i do not know what will.

[Tresgatos]

I took pottery lessons about 5 years ago at age 63 and we had to do hand building first - I loved it and was looking forward to the next semester when we could learn to "throw" the clay on the wheel. In the meantime, I asked one of the advanced students if I could give it a try and they showed me the basics of it. The kind of wheels available at the school were ones that you sat at and leaned over the wheel to create. I kinda did ok on the first and second try but found that my back was screaming right after. Unfortunately, I had wound up with some severe back problems and never did make it back to take those classes - I've since healed but need to be careful. I loved working with the hand built items but also found that any larger pieces extremely heavy and a problem. I gave it up and now do watercolor & oil painting. I have the utmost admiration for those who are able to create 3 dimensional art as there are times when I look at something and I can "see & feel" how it would look if created in 3D.

I wondered if there were throwing wheels that one could stand at and if yes, would it be easier on the back?

Also wondered if an unfired clay creation that has been sitting around for years can be fired without the possibility of exploding?

I have some larger pieces I made that I didn't have an opportunity to have fired. They were cone 10 and I also wondered if they can be fired at a lower temp and be hard enough to be stable. Most of the kilns that fire that high are in the schools.

Barbara