Working in clay is a world away from working with computers, a tools that enables our current design practice. On a computer we create in a virtual space and tend towards rectilinear and geometric forms. Over time, we lose our tolerance for imperfection and our skills of improvisation. We strive for intentional, quintessential, precise shapes in design.
Made by hand allows Terren to explore a different kind of perfection and pursue new ways of expression that make her work more individual in the creation of objects. Working with clay in a wet state is more visceral and malleable. The choices of clay, glazes, and different kinds of firings influence the outcome, including elements of chance into the process.
Made by hand shifts our perception of perfection. Manufacturing ushered in a preference for perfections based on replication, while hand-made sees perfection in a unique shape, a one-of-a-kind, that is different than replicating something identically. It is an expression of our imperfect selves.
Made by hand marks a new period of creativity and relaxing expectations and ushers in a new way of “working” more spontaneously. Terren’s hands in clay inspires in me a new to my own work— one of relaxing expectations, exploring new ways of interpreting the world and feeling my way into a new “place of being and feeling.”
Terren inscribed in this cup the date May 13,2024 to memorialize the day of my commitment to exploring new ways of working and expressing “who I am and what I see.”