How I Got Into Ceramics

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.
Pablo Picasso

It all starts at an early age, with coloring books, crayons, fingerpainting and play-doh; when all the children try to color "inside the lines" and are unashamed to proudly gift simple drawings of houses, flowers, and stick figures to their parents. However, when does a child officialy have a talent for art, and who calls it?

I can't exactly say how it was for me. It could have been those moments when I held a paintbrush in my hands in kindergarten, draped from head to toe and standing in front of a huge piece of paper with an array of different colors in front of me; Or it could have been those times when I stood in my Dad's study and watched him sketch and shade drawings of various objects, as I watched a plain peice of paper transform into reality. At an early age, I started to develop a desire to create beauty.

Now let's take this story down  ten years or so, when I was in high school. I still had the desire to create beauty. I would take one painting class after another every year to keep developing my skill in art and to pursue my passion. However, in the middle of my high school carrer I had to switch from a city high school to county high school. Since county high schools aren't usually as funded as city high schools, I quickly made the assumption that the art program would suck. However, I couldn't be more wrong. In addition to painting and drawing classes, the school offered a ceramics class. Since I'm very prone to try out new things and I had alot of room for electives, I took that class out of mere curiosity. Little did I know that I would fall in love with ceramics.

I am now in a college that is just launcing a new art major, so I am taking a ceramics course to refresh my high school skills. My Goal is to perfect my skills in the art of ceramics and fulfill my desire to create beauty.