Your first 100 pots will be terrible. Throw them against the wall of your studio (literally, reclaim buckets love a good slam). Do not hide your failures. Put them on a shelf labeled “The War Wounds.”
Walk into the studio. Slap that five-pound bag of stoneware onto the bat. Center it. Open it. Pull the walls. female war i am pottery best
A master potter named Maria Martinez of San Ildefonso Pueblo (a icon of female indigenous pottery) once said, “The clay speaks. You just have to listen.” Your first 100 pots will be terrible
To be your best in pottery is to accept the broken pieces. Every potter has a graveyard of shattered mugs and cracked bowls. The “best” potter is not the one who never fails. It is the one who takes the shards and turns them into mosaic tiles (Kintsugi). It is the one who looks at a collapsed vase and laughs, then wedges it back into a new lump of potential. Put them on a shelf labeled “The War Wounds
So here is your permission.
Women who survive trauma often report that pottery saved their lives because it forces them into their bodies. You cannot throw pots while dissociating. You must feel the slip (liquid clay) between your fingers. You must smell the damp earth. You are here . the clay. I am the water. I am the fire. Part 4: Becoming the “Best” – Mastery as Self-Love The final word in our keyword is “best.” In a patriarchal context, “best” often means best in show, best seller, best looking. But in the context of the female war, “best” means unbroken.