Elaine Hardman Fun and Functional Pottery

While living in Binghamton, New York in 1973, I took a short class in throwing at the Roberson Center.  Inauspiciously, I climbed on the potter's wheel, gave a sturdy kick and flew off the back to land on the concrete floor, dazed.  The instructor warned that we'd have to kick "really hard."

Looking down at me, she said, "Maybe not that hard."

I found peace with the kick wheel and when I held my first finished pot, it felt as though I had connected with ancient potters and clay workers as a member of some kind of universal order that extended around the world and through all time.  I wanted to be a potter.   I bought an electric wheel - closer to the ground and so much safer for me. 

Clay is magical - soft, pliable, capable of so many shapes.  It is worked, immersed in fire and when cooled, placed in the hand as a durable, functional item.  In a world of disposable, cookie-cutter items, clay has an honorable role for its character, durability, variety and because it passes through the potter's hands to take shape. 

Sometimes I’ve found a stranger drinking out of one of my mugs, discovered one of my bowls holding a salad at a potluck dinner or noticed pencils in one of my pots on a desk.  Marvelous.

Elaine Hardman, Stoneflower Pottery