Poetry in clay

Norma Rodney Harrack transforms clay into a work of art 

Norma Rodney Harrack takes a lump of clay, kneads it into a ball and throws it on the top of a spinning wheel, with a flick of a button the spin is set in motion as her nimble yet firm hand movements start transforming that lump of clay into a vessel.

“The potter’s wheel was a synchronization of feet hand and brain,” Rodney Harrack said, working like a drummer in harmony - tapping the pedal with his foot to play the bass drum as the hands work the drum sticks on the cymbals to produce beats. 

Pottery, Rodney Harrack says, is a very meticulous process requiring patience and hard work.  Like cooking, the prepping of the ingredients is a time consuming task.

It starts with choosing the right clay, which is soaked for around two weeks to get the sediments settle down, then passed through a sieve. “The clay is in a consistency of thick ice cream, it is then kept to dry, when it becomes a leather hard stage at which point it is kneaded to take out any air pockets,” she explained.

“The clay has to be leather or cheese hard consistency, and is left overnight in the open before it is carved.”

 The prepping process takes around three to four weeks…or one can buy ready made clay start using it, “It is a personal choice, the traditional process gives gratification but one has to wait to execute a creative idea,” the potter, artist and lecturer says.

“It’s difference between making a cake from a cake mix or going through the process of mixing the ingredients from the scratch,” says Ann Ventura, founder and creative director of Sanaa Studios in Kingston.

Pottery traces its history to ancient civilizations, as a work of art and in daily use, from the ‘Yabba’ pots of Africa to its aesthetic use in Mesopotamia (modern day Iran and Iraq) and the Indus Valley Civilization (India and Pakistan) over 6000 years ago.

Centuries later the flywheel has become mechanized, but the fundamentals remain the same. “It is a labour of love where the head, hands and the heart work in harmony,” says Rodney Harrack.

A foot pedal controls the speed of the wheel; the pace is set at fast after the clay is ‘thrown’. “ the process is called throwing because you have to throw the clay on the wheel and then centre it,” she informed.

It is critical that the clay is centred and once that is done the process of moulding commences. The moist hands movements decide what shape the clay takes, couple with the pressure applied and excessive moisture removed.

If something goes wrong, she says, you can get the clay back as a lump and start all over again.

“The clay is soft and obedient to be shaped,” says Rodney Harrack, who is the pottery lecturer at Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, Kingston.

Once the desired form is achieved it is removed by running a cutting metal wire, the pottery is then kept to dry and then fired in the kiln. Once baked the finishing touches are applied, which are a variety of glaze or paint according to the artist’s preferences and style.

“Traditionally the pots were ‘burnished’, which is a process of smoothening the surface, after two days of the pot being made, by rubbing a smooth stone or back of a spoon to give the shine,” she informed. “The process takes about three to four hours.”

Pottery is a painstaking and at times back breaking process, but at the end of it all the sweat, toil and caking hands in clay, like planting a seed and see it germinate, gives a sense of elation and gratification to the creator.

The potter’s wheel moves like a circle of life, creating forms and shapes from earth.

“It is a very meaningful experience, which still holds relevance and bonds us with nature,” Rodney Harrack says.

amitabh.sharma@hotmail.com

Published October 7, 2012 - Sunday Gleaner