Classic Plate

"I believe in nature."

I think we've gotten too far away from nature. You know, there was a time when the idea of having a bowl was a new idea. It was brand new! Just the thought of holding a nice warm bowl next you while you eat some chili or some soup. There was a time when people didn't even have that. The invention of the bowl was like the invention of fire. Hand in hand. They work together. Now people could drink things, from an earthen vessel. They could boil things. They could hold liquids. They couldn't do that with a plate.

I like to make pottery. There's something almost spiritual about holding the clay you know. It's as if the earth is talking back to you as you make the pottery. It speaks. It says "I want to be a bowl. I want to hold things."

You can't get that at a regular store man. All those dishes that you buy, they're not real. They don't breath. There's no feeling there. But when you pick up a hand made bowl, or cup, you can feel it. It's like it resonates with the earth.

What's amazing is this:

Our food, no matter where we bought it, comes from the ground. It all does. The grass. The grains. The herbs. The meat. All originates from the earth. Mother earth. What is the earth? The soil. And that's what we're making the bowls out of. It's as if we take the food out of the ground, and mother earth provides the container to hold it in. The earth, back together again.

- Victor Contreras, Master Potter