When I held the first pottery class at my studio in October 2019, Maritza Dominguez was one of the first students to sign up. With her distinctive short short hair and big colorful glasses, I remembered meeting her weeks before in my studio at Vallejo Second Friday Art Walk. She was enthusiastic about my work and purchased several items, which also made her memorable-- I love my customers!
"I'm not creative at all" she said the first night in class, a basic slab and slump mold class, "I just want to play and have fun." This is actually the best attitude to have about clay for beginners. Clay is a tricky medium where skill-building is essential, and approaching it with an attitude of play and low expectations around the outcome is wise.
As it turned out, Maritza was quite adept at acquiring the skills I was teaching, and the creativity thing wasn't a problem either. She wowed the rest of the class with her projects, including the mug she is holding above. Maritza was, as I like to say, bitten by the pottery bug, which gives you a viral obsession with clay and a desire to keep making more pottery.
Maritza is now the official studio assistant, which gives her the access to studio time that she needs to keep learning new pottery skills. In exchange she helps me prep classes, keeps the studio clean and organized, poses for instagram pics, and is a sounding board for me as I build this small studio into something that can offer many more classes to the community. If you see her buzzing around the studio in one of her many pairs of cool and funky glasses, be sure to say hi!