I've never really considered myself a potter. In fact I was, as a college student, resistant to the wheel. I was interested in creating sculpture and my head was in the realm of fine art, not craft. There sadly still seems to be a great divide between the world of the traditional potter, creating service objects such as cups, bowls, teapots and platters, and the artist who creates expressive pieces of sculpture, non-functional and without a care for utilitarian concerns. As a ceramics teacher, I'm aware of how my biases can color and even limit the experience of my students. In order to become the best instructor I can, I must open my students to both sides of the duality that is the world of ceramics. For me that has meant embracing the wheel. Surprisingly, I've come to enjoy it and am seeking to find ways of using it in my own work. I've already begun incorporating thrown forms into my sculptural vessels, which strengthen them, and have created a series of large plates on which to create paintings along the lines of my slab paintings. Maybe... just maybe... I'm becoming a potter. These are all results from teaching demos: