Her Story
Ruth
A potter, a late beginner and a woman who has learned to keep the imperfect pieces.
In Her Own Words
“I’m still making lopsided bowls, and I still love it.”
Her Story
When did you become the Woman in the Big Earrings?
I think it happened the afternoon I stopped asking whether the earrings were too much and wore them to the grocery store anyway.
About Ruth
Tell me a little bit more about yourself today.
Today I’m sixty-three, happily learning how much I still don’t know. I worked in municipal planning for more than thirty years. It was useful work, and I cared about it, but there was always a small part of me that wanted to make things with my hands.
When I retired, a friend gave me a six-week pottery class. I nearly didn’t go. Everyone else seemed to know how to centre clay, while mine kept sliding sideways like it had somewhere better to be. Then one evening I made a bowl. It leaned noticeably to the left and had a thumbprint in the rim. I brought it home and put peaches in it.
That bowl is still on my kitchen table. I make better ones now, but it reminds me that beginning badly is still beginning. Most mornings you’ll find me at the community studio, wearing clothes that can take a little clay and earrings that absolutely cannot.
A Pearl of Wisdom
Do you have a pearl of wisdom you’d like to share with your younger self — or perhaps with younger women?
“Don’t wait to be good at something before you let yourself love doing it.”Ruth