What do you do with failure: life lessons from a potter

As a potter and a teacher of pottery I have a very simple saying that has come back to me a million times, "pots break".

Pots break.

Does this mean you don't put your heart and soul into it?

No, you put your heart and soul into it. It means that you have to be willing and able to let go.

You put your heart and soul into a piece, you fall in love with it, and then you give it to the kiln gods, and you let go. You have to let go.

Because sometimes they come out beautifully, and sometimes not so much. And sometimes they break even before they get to the kiln.

Pots break and it is part of the creative process.

What I have found over the years is that when you put your heart and soul into a piece and you love it and it breaks, and you start over, the next piece will be even better.

That is if you let yourself make the next piece and not try to make the same piece. Because you have learned something.

I recently had a failure that looked more like a catastrophe.

It was a kiln load of pots and sculpture and test tiles and my intern's work as well.

And there was an explosion in the kiln. Yup. The kiln shelves were pulverized and the kiln roof was damaged and I lost about half of the art in the kiln. Luckily all of the intern's work survived.

​(read more below)

So I was asked, what happened - how did this happen?

User Error was my first answer.

My fault. And it's true, but I am not saying it to beat myself up, but rather to look at where are the mistakes that lead to this.

What can I learn? After a day of walking around and poking at it and then a few days of asking some clay people and kiln people their opinions, I have a pretty good answer. I know how to fix it and I have learned a good set of lessons.

Not the least of which was don't be casual about a firing - pay attention!

Pots break and there are lessons. You have to take responsibility so you can learn what needs to be learned. It is important not to beat yourself up.

​User error happens. It doesn't mean stop, and it doesn't mean you suck. It means slow down and learn, and then keep going. ​

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