Michael

I had a truly amazing experience at Maria’s s VAWAA Workshop in Athens, Greece. Her ceramic studio is spacious and warm, and had everything needed to make great art. Maria focuses nearly entirely (these days) on coil building but has experience in pinch and especially in mixing clays of different colors, creating unique, organic patterns. Maria is an excellent ceramics instructor. She was in the studio every day, and we worked on different techniques each day, building on previous day’s work. It was very helpful that I had developed some skills before taking this workshop, even if they were on slab building. 

As we worked, Maria made suggestions on combining different skills to create new pieces, but she was especially focused on helping to mentor me on focusing first on the shape of the piece and then on surface treatment and finishing touches. She used her background and experience as a professional potter and was able to provide feedback and ideas on how I can (perhaps) build my own business or just find a way to better share my pieces with others. Her encouragement also helped me become more experimental and a better risk taker—all while thinking about form first. She provided what seemed like small ideas, but that could transform and widen my pottery results. The time in Greece and visiting with Maria was much more than just an artistic experience, it was more of a chance to learn about another country and culture. Maria has deep experience in ceramics and art making; she is kind, and super interesting, which helps build trust that improves exchange of ideas. 

Having the opportunity to take this VAWAA workshop in Athens means being able to walk in the city where many aspects of democracy were born, and where ceramics have been practiced for 1000s of years. So, there is no shortage of potential learning experiences! I plan to stay in touch with Maria and hope she can provide honest critiques and suggestions in the future that I can really use and benefit from. Thank you Maria!