Meaningful Sculpture
There I was, sitting in a lonely brown box all by myself. Waiting for someone to pick me up and make me into a beautiful piece of clay. The day it happened, I knew it was going to happen. I had a strong feeling. The dark box was opened up to let the shining light in. I sat there and waited. Waited for what felt like a really long time. All of the sudden, something warm and firm grabbed onto me. Could this be it?! Am I finally being chosen? It lifted me out of the box, and all of the sudden we were moving at a quick speed. Whoa. I felt like I was going to be sick. Finally, we stopped. I already felt much better… until the hand picked me up and started squashing me. What was going on?! This is not what I imagined becoming a gorgeous piece of clay would be like! Pretty soon, the hand set me down on a hard, splintery piece of wood. Ouch. All of the sudden, a shower of water came pouring down on me. At first it felt nice, but I got pretty sick of it after a while. A plastic bag was placed on top of me, and I was set down on the top shelf. I sat there for a while and waited. Again. This whole clay thing has a lot of waiting involved, I discovered. After a while, I was picked up again. More water showers. More beatings. This process seemed to go on for what felt like forever. The day I was placed in the kiln didn’t seem any different than any other day. Sprayed with water, placed on the shelf, the usual. The only thing that was different was that I wasn’t covered with a sheet of plastic. I figured it wouldn’t make too much of a difference. Not that I knew much better. The next couple of days, I wasn’t touched by human hands, but I did make a few new clay friends. One was a plaque with a cute saying on it. We chatted for a long time. She asked me if I would like to know what I looked like, but I kindly said no. I wanted it to be a surprise! Eventually, I was picked up by some human hands and placed gently in a large, round, oven-like thing. The top closed and the inside was extremely black. Wow! It was slowly getting hotter and hotter! I slowly fell asleep in the sauna… I felt something cold being put on me when I woke up. And it tickled! What was going on? It continued for about ten more minutes, and then I was set down and put on a shelf for another couple days… This time by myself. How boring. Again, I was put in the sauna, hopefully for the last time. After my second long, long nap, I was taken out of the oven-like thing and placed on that same shelf. I was finally finished! Finally a beautiful piece of clay! The hands that made me came back and started taking pictures of me on her phone. I posed with a smile for her. She gave me a thumbs up and walked back to her desk to post them on her popular website. The next day, the hands came back and carried me to the front of the classroom. Did that mean I actually was a beautiful piece? Was I going to be shown off in front of everyone?! This was so fun! I was put in the main case in the front of the art room. People walked by everyday and admired me. I loved every minute of it. Eventually, it was my turn to be put away in the back of the room. It was a sad day, but I knew other pots needed their turn to be shown off. I was taken home and put in a lonely brown box, along with a few other pots who had already hit their peak. As I sat in the box, I realized that this was the same way I started. Becoming a beautiful pot was not all it was cracked up to be.
There I was, sitting in a lonely brown box all by myself. Waiting for someone to pick me up and make me into a beautiful piece of clay. The day it happened, I knew it was going to happen. I had a strong feeling. The dark box was opened up to let the shining light in. I sat there and waited. Waited for what felt like a really long time. All of the sudden, something warm and firm grabbed onto me. Could this be it?! Am I finally being chosen? It lifted me out of the box, and all of the sudden we were moving at a quick speed. Whoa. I felt like I was going to be sick. Finally, we stopped. I already felt much better… until the hand picked me up and started squashing me. What was going on?! This is not what I imagined becoming a gorgeous piece of clay would be like! Pretty soon, the hand set me down on a hard, splintery piece of wood. Ouch. All of the sudden, a shower of water came pouring down on me. At first it felt nice, but I got pretty sick of it after a while. A plastic bag was placed on top of me, and I was set down on the top shelf. I sat there for a while and waited. Again. This whole clay thing has a lot of waiting involved, I discovered. After a while, I was picked up again. More water showers. More beatings. This process seemed to go on for what felt like forever. The day I was placed in the kiln didn’t seem any different than any other day. Sprayed with water, placed on the shelf, the usual. The only thing that was different was that I wasn’t covered with a sheet of plastic. I figured it wouldn’t make too much of a difference. Not that I knew much better. The next couple of days, I wasn’t touched by human hands, but I did make a few new clay friends. One was a plaque with a cute saying on it. We chatted for a long time. She asked me if I would like to know what I looked like, but I kindly said no. I wanted it to be a surprise! Eventually, I was picked up by some human hands and placed gently in a large, round, oven-like thing. The top closed and the inside was extremely black. Wow! It was slowly getting hotter and hotter! I slowly fell asleep in the sauna… I felt something cold being put on me when I woke up. And it tickled! What was going on? It continued for about ten more minutes, and then I was set down and put on a shelf for another couple days… This time by myself. How boring. Again, I was put in the sauna, hopefully for the last time. After my second long, long nap, I was taken out of the oven-like thing and placed on that same shelf. I was finally finished! Finally a beautiful piece of clay! The hands that made me came back and started taking pictures of me on her phone. I posed with a smile for her. She gave me a thumbs up and walked back to her desk to post them on her popular website. The next day, the hands came back and carried me to the front of the classroom. Did that mean I actually was a beautiful piece? Was I going to be shown off in front of everyone?! This was so fun! I was put in the main case in the front of the art room. People walked by everyday and admired me. I loved every minute of it. Eventually, it was my turn to be put away in the back of the room. It was a sad day, but I knew other pots needed their turn to be shown off. I was taken home and put in a lonely brown box, along with a few other pots who had already hit their peak. As I sat in the box, I realized that this was the same way I started. Becoming a beautiful pot was not all it was cracked up to be.