summer class, first day

noncredit, so I can be very relaxed.  I state it on the first day: my teaching philosophy is to pretty much follow where your interest is: if you want to do your thing in the corner and not be bothered, that's fine by me.. if you want to become comfortable on the wheel- this is the one in the line where I do demo's - choose these nearby as your front row seats... if you think you know what I'm talking about, you may politely and quietly ignore me- its all good... but fyi, I'm good at this, so use me while you got me.. I love them, and they know it already, so most head for the wheels

after a super-condensed explanation of the process of making pots along with studio orientation, we get going- poorly connected splash pans are rattling around, clay spins off the wheel, I do an excruciatingly slow demo of how to center and stop there, shifting to letting them try and figuring out where they need help.. the more experienced move off to the edges, the newbies near me, and the tuning begins.. I must observe, focus on one at a time, thoroughly enough to truly help them, and meanwhile not drop the budding excitement of the others before it turns into dejection after half an hour of trying to center. If I lose someone the first day, I usually lose them for good.  One woman showed up with her husband, supporting him because he didn't want to come to class alone.. she sits at the wheel, never having touched clay.. she is one of seven I am tending to, and I can see in her body language that she is frustrated, even if her words are otherwise.. cheerful, but she is putting a happy face on it- she's frustrated- I am helping someone else, and then someone else, and I had of course warned them all that it was a very steep learning curve at first.  I see at a distance her fussing, helpless strong motions that don't correlate to understanding of this spinning lump, the physics of pressure on rotation, and I give her a little attention, then move on.

fifteen minutes perhaps, I return to her, a larger woman, red-faced and kind, her body getting in her own way as she tries to follow my instruction to put her elbow against her hip- impossible- I adjust my instruction. but when I return to her, she has whittled her pound and a half to half that, and it is perfectly centered.  unbelievable- a complete beginner, not an hour on the wheel- and I sit next to her to encourage.. she says- well, now what? and sit at my own wheel next to her to show her what I was going in wait till next class to show- opening and the beginning of throwing.. she can't hold back to just watch me for a second- she's in, she's enthralled- she's - I can see the look on her face, her body language again shifting, her face softens, delighted, phrases like "wow", subdued exclamations like "oh! I've never..." she turns to me, apologizing, says "I'm about to cry"- and it nearly makes ME cry- I laugh with delight, say "we have a witness!", and within a few more seconds she has ruined her little pot, but the look on her face, the joy evident in her entire body was so beautiful.. it was just, so very beautiful...