From the time of Plato and Aristotle to the present, pottery and vessel, in particular, have been examples of philosophers in various philosophical areas. The secret of this craft lies in its nature. Integration of soil, water, wind, and fire and the sense of a familiar, flexible, soft, and controllable material but at the same time, unknown, fragile, and solid. All of these provide good reasons to choose clay for "Experimenting with Clay without Pre Experience" in a two-day workshop. For this experience, the only available equipment for the participants was some basic tools and clay. Wedging the lump of clay was the first challenge in dealing with this material without pre-experience. The force that clay applied to the hand, just as the hand tried to control it, made it clear that this is not passive and still medium. It has a high weight, it easily cracks and unexpectedly dries in the process, and it does not form very easily. The expected time for this experimentation was around 15 hours in total, over two days. At the end of the first day, as the hands were domesticated by clay, the clay was tamed too by hands. These two sides, hand and clay were both able to figure out how to interact with each other to create a form. They had known each other very well at that point. But what was significant was that the way each participant interacted with clay was different from the others. Everyone had found their way, and therefore, the results were so far apart, indicating infinite ways to work with clay as the endless number of people.
Even though approaches to this material seemed to be far from its essence, surprisingly, they also worked well. The forces have reached a kind of harmony and balanced, in the sense that neither hand imposed its power and desire on clay nor clay on the hand.
This can also be seen from the answers given to the questionnaire answered by the end of the workshop. Most of the responses indicated that both sides had partial control, and there was fair cooperation.
But overall, and based on all replies, it was not clear how each form had been created. The answers are varied. Some stated that the chosen technique played an essential role in creating the final form. For some, it was the intrinsic characteristics of the clay that affected final forms, or even for some others, there was no initial idea, and they had found the final form through "Making." Of course, even with the initial idea, the answer to question 4, which asks if the result was similar to what was in mind at the beginning, was mostly negative. In the end, part of the form was the human contribution as a partner in two-way cooperation, and the other contribution was for the clay side, and assuredly, both sides entirely played their roles.
It can be said that Poiesis is nothing but recognizing the role of a dynamic force in a mutual relationship of making with its desires, characteristics, and tendencies and allowing it to have its impacts. In this sense, there is no right or wrong way. And there are no specific rules to gaining creative shapes and forms. "Making" did not even require long and special training or guidance, although there were elements that could help the two sides get to know each other. For instance, the role of the mediator was for speeding up the process or preparing a background for the mind by showing a few images, narrating the related myths, and telling what will happen to the work afterward and at the other stages.
It is not clear how effective was each of these guides, but the answers demonstrate that participants found them quite efficient. The works and the questionnaire were not the only results of the workshop. Discussions for two days are one of the consequences of a group experience. "Making" in a group led to sharing and expressing thoughts and perceptions around this experience.
However, participants were asked to represent their monographs with clay, but dealing with an unknown medium pushed them away from this tendency. Surprisingly, what had been made had unpredictable and unplanned similarities with its creator, and some of them are not easily forgettable.
link: https://www.khm.de/termine/news.4914.workshop-poiesis-and-pottery-experimenting-with-clay-without-pre-experience/
Poiesis and Pottery - Experimenting without Pre-Experience
