Beginnings and Endings.

Earlier this year my twin grandsons were born.
They got off to a shaky start.
My daughter described them as “brave little fighters”.
They are both well now.

I often think better pots have a similar history. They fight their way into existence.

They can be tiny or monumental, large or small in concept, wood fired or not, but more often than not, they possess “elegant survivor” character.
Author Joe Moran wrote about this.
He said good sentences reduce randomness to inevitability and connect the seemingly different.
“All tell us something about the world outside themselves.
They swim in their own kind of beauty”, he said.

I think this applies to good pottery.
It seems to me ceramics is a medium- mute as it is- where this often occurs.
Perhaps is because chance is given more rein, and the materials are more self-determining.
In the end, a successful outcome stands as a compliment to many things, including happenstance.
Very much like my grandsons.

Rowley Drysdale
November 2025