Linda Finger has discovered a new morning ritual. She grabs a glob of clay, slams it on a counter and carefully pats it into a firm round ball. Once all the air bubbles are out of the clay ball, she places it on a spinning potter’s wheel, moistens the clay and begins shaping it into a cylinder that will eventually become a coffee mug.

“Pottery is something I’ve been interested in for a long time but never had the opportunity to take a class,” Finger said.

Finger, a Canton resident, is one of several students who recently signed up for a beginner’s pottery course at The Good Earth Studio, a new pottery studio in Hazelwood owned and operated by Bob and Carol Hammock. It’s one of the few independent pottery studios in Western North Carolina that’s not affiliated with a craft school or college. The studio is located on Hazelwood Avenue next to First Citizens Bank.

On a sunny Tuesday morning last week, Bob Hammock was busy teaching his first group of students as part of a three-hour, once-a-week course that will be taught over nine weeks.

Bob fell in love with pottery more than a decade ago while working in middle management for a computer software company in Atlanta. He decided to take a continuing education course in pottery, and by the end of the first night class he was hooked.

“I felt like I’d been doing it my whole life,” he said.

Pretty soon, he was explaining the techniques to his fellow classmates. One class turned into four years of pottery classes. He started putting on displays at craft shows and eventually set up his own studio out of his home and taught pottery classes at the Pickneyville Arts Center in Gwinnett County in Georgia for four years before moving to Waynesville.

After living six years in Haywood County, Bob and his wife Carol were finally able to secure a place to set up a studio. (They’ve been active in renovating buildings —- the Haywood County Chamber of Commerce is one of their former projects.)

Hammock says he’s found great joy in watching someone get excited about learning how to make pottery.

“Bob’s an excellent teacher,” says Elise Curry, a Waynesville resident and one of Hammock’s first students at the Good Earth Studio. “He explains things really well.”

With a hands-on art like pottery, it might be easy for the teacher to take over where a student might be struggling, much like a computer teacher might take control of a mouse when a student isn’t sure how to maneuver in a program. But Hammock resists that urge. Instead, he calmly talks his students through a problem and then gives a reassuring, “That’s it; now you’ve got it.”

Classical music plays in the background as each student hovers over a pot that’s formed with dabs of a dripping sponge and muddy fingers.

After a potter creates a piece on the potter’s wheel, it’s placed on a shelf to dry. Then, it’s fired at a low temperature to dry out the water molecules and harden the pot. Once hard, it’s ready for a coat of glaze which will give it a protective shine. Glazed pots are then placed in a kiln where they are heated for about 12 to 14 hours at approximately 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit. Because a whole lot can potentially go wrong in that process, Hammock makes sure his students remember the fundamental rules for each step.

“Every week, we’re going to build on what we’ve learned,” Hammock says.

For example, pounding out the clay ball thoroughly at the very beginning ensures a stronger pot. All the air bubbles have to be beaten out of the clay. Otherwise, an overlooked bubble can make the piece uneven as it turns on the potter’s wheel. If it happens to get past the potter’s wheel, a bubble in the clay can make the pot explode in the kiln, and that could potentially damage any of the other pots firing in the kiln. So the first step needs to be done right in order for the next step to succeed.

Every piece of pottery, Hammock explains, starts out as a basic cylinder. Coffee mugs, bowls, dishes, vases and plates all start out as a cylinder on the potter’s wheel, so learning to get the feel for how to make cylinders is the most important skill to start with. After learning how to form a simple cylinder, the students get a demonstration on how to make handles. Then it’s on to spouts and jar covers.

The studio is fully equipped with potter’s wheels, shelving space to store pots, an outside kiln for firing pottery, and another kiln for raku firing. Students will learn the complete process from taking the clay glob and shaping on the potter’s wheel to glazing and firing.

The nine-week pottery course is $195 per person. As a separate invitation, for $25 a week, a more experienced potter can come in to the studio and take advantage of the potter’s wheels, tools, the kiln and other materials.

The Good Earth Studio is geared more toward the hobbyist than the professional, Hammock explains. He recommends a more academic setting such as Haywood Community College for those who are interested in becoming a professional potter. As The Good Earth Studio develops and word gets around, Hammock is hoping to expand into children’s classes, including a credited course for home school students.

For more information about The Good Earth Studio, call 828.456.4794.

 

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The Smoky Mountain News