I'm having this hand lettered on the office wall, I am.

7. Trust that you have greatness inside of you. This is the big one. 

Warren is a utilitarian potter, meaning he makes a lot of pots, mostly for everyday use. Mark and I eat off his work daily. But with each firing Warren sets a few pieces aside for museums. The pots that sing. 

When asked how he creates those pots, he said he doesn't worry about it, because he doesn't set out to make a great pot, just one that's useful. He said to trust that there's something inside you, something simultaneously human and divine, that will come out in the work. When you find a pot that exhibits the ineffable, then you've made art. It's easy to pick the functional pots from the brilliant pots. The brilliant ones glow from within. 

And yes, I'll say it: Just like him.





I stole this ruthlessly from Robin Becker's blog post about her father in law Warren.  Read the rest of it here.

And I'm not kidding about the lettering. It's going to take a while, but there will be photos.

And here's Robin's book BRAINS.  Just in case yours exploded when you read that.