Wabi Sabi Pottery: an exercise in letting go!

I beat the winter blues this year by signing up for the first pottery class at the newly built Trout Lake Community Center. I was reluctant to join for different reasons; partly because I'm pretty tired in the evenings, plus it lasted past my usual bedtime of 9:00 pm and I usually get that art buzz of ideas and can't get to sleep. But I decided to join anyway. 

What a fascinating mix of people! We were mostly beginners who had never sat at a wheel before and were anxious to get started. Since I was my quieter self, due to being tired, I listened more than usual. It seemed difficult for some to relax and simply enjoy playing. I heard a lot of: "Am I doing this right?","Is this how it's supposed to work?", " I can't get mine to work.".

 If you've ever taken a pottery class, especially if you have ever tried to throw anything on a wheel before, you know how patient and accepting you have to be of anything that might have some use. You may have the intention of making a beautiful platter or pasta bowl or even a simple cereal bowl, but soon enough, as the clay whips around the wheel and you desperately try to control it, you learn to love your warped, dented soy sauce plate. At every stage; throwing, trimming, firing, and glazing, you must relinquish your idea of what your piece will be like. So long my beautiful set of matching cups! Yay to my new soap dish, coin bowl and pencil holder!

As in the ancient Japanese aesthetic of Wabi Sabi which describes a certain beauty as "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete", it also acknowledges three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect. Pottery allows you enjoy this aesthetic by forcing you to let go of perfectionism and control and rejoice in dents, cracks, unevenness, and unpredicted colors.

I did get home late, and I did have trouble getting to sleep, but one thing I can say is that, there is nothing like eating breakfast out of a bowl you made yourself! You do get better at it. Promise. But even our teacher who could throw a perfectly symmetrical piece, was still surprised to see the final outcomes!

My Zen Garden

my stuff

I've never been a very big fan of coffee tables. Sure, I like being able to put my feet up, if you're allowed, but generally, I find that most empty surfaces tend to get cluttered. Coffee tables are the worse for that: books, cups, pens, toys, notes, keys etc... I try to contain the stuff with containers. I use a big tray.




My husband had this habit of putting his stuff on the fire mantel which would drive me insane, so I gave him a tray too. (notice how much smaller it is..not sure if that was intentional). I think it made me insane because the fireplace is usually the focal point of a room and the junk, sorry, the stuff, seemed highlighted there. I put his tray up on our living room sideboard to protect the fireplace and designed the mantel as my zen garden aka no clutter zone.

his stuff

Up until recently, I've been growing my "back yard": 3 pots with grass. Today I took them outside for some fresh air and decided to refresh my zen garden. While reading "Simply Imperfect- Revisiting the Wabi-Sabi House" by Robyn Griggs Lawrence in my quest to continue adding some wabi-sabi to my life, I reread the chapter on uncluttering made easy. Two items stood out: allow only three items on each surface and keep windowsills clear of knickknacks and potted plants.

Okay so I was going in the right direction with having only 3 items, but not with the potted plants. So here's what I've come up with. My favorite school chair, a mini pumpkin and a river rock. So when the floors get covered in toys, counters spewed with dishes and stairs with shoes, I just have to look up for some zen.

My wabi sabi zen garden

Add a little Wabi Sabi

I'm going to add more Wabi Sabi to my life. The Zen Buddhist philosophy of Wabi Sabi; Wabi meaning simplicity, and Sabi meaning the beauty of age and wear, celebrates beauty in what's natural, flaws and all.

When I think of simple things that become beautiful with time and wear, I think of gardens, leather, paint, wood, paper, books, fabrics, skin, pottery, long loving relationships, homemade food, space, objects which hold stories, flowers, and photographs.

Instinctively I've noticed that the more I seek these things, the more I relax. It seems that there is a trend back to more natural, long-lasting, handmade things and sometimes it appears to be more costly, but in the end, it's a lot easier to love the mismatched silver forks your grandma gave you than the "wow, we have that Ikea" cutlery. It's easier to wear those super comfy leather boots you've had resoled three times than the "but they were on sale" faux pleather leather shoes.

I can think of many examples in my life where Wabi Sabi lives. Every once in a while my husband buys me flowers, and I get just as much joy looking at them when they are perky and new as when they start to droop and dry out.

Today I went to the pool and I was grateful for seeing all the naked ladies there. It made me feel beautiful because I could see so clearly how we are so different in shapes, size, lumps and bumps that all that difference is so "imperfectly, naturally" beautiful.

I go for walks with my son, and inevitably I bring home a bit of nature: a handful of pine cones, a feather, a stick, a brick... I've noticed that I care less about imperfection in natural things than in things made to look "perfectly fabricated." I don't want to see any more particle board, polyester carpet, and plastic containers. I want tasty, juicy, dirty, mangled veggies, clutter free surfaces, and cotton underwear!


Leonard Cohen poetically said "There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." And that's what I'm going to look for.