By: Asma Patel

 My name is Asma Patel. I am twenty-eight years old and I love to do art. Art is very therapeutic, and I like exploring ways to express my creativity. I found a beginner’s pottery class in the Surrey Recreation and Leisure Guide, and I signed up with the help of my support staff at UNITI. I’m going to tell you a little bit about it.

The class I signed up for met at the Surrey Art Gallery. I was a bit nervous about going to class but felt comfortable once I got there. The other people in the class were friendly, and I felt like I belonged.

I continue to work on some of the skills that our instructor taught us. I’m working on how to pull the clay up once it is centered on the wheel so I can make it into what I’d like. Working with wet clay is a lot of fun. It can be messy, and you must be okay with getting dirty. Once something is made, you must let the clay dry until the following week, when you trim it. Trimming was scary because I didn’t want to make a mistake and have to start all over again. My staff person supported me with the trimming.

After trimming, it is time for the bisque fire. This is when the bone-dry clay goes into the kiln, becomes much stronger, and is then ready to decorate.

There are many ways to decorate the pottery piece. I used some underglazes that I painted on. We need to put three coats on so the color shows up. We then have to put a glaze over the underglaze for the pottery to become food-safe. After glazing, the pottery must return to the kiln and be fired. Then, the piece is complete!

I felt peaceful and calm after spending time in the studio, as it seemed to help me release my energy into the clay. I recommend signing up for pottery classes if you want to be creative and you love to paint and get dirty.