The Pottery Portal
I am honestly really missing my old pottery studio Mudslingers in Lafayette, Colorado. I consider it a curiosity portal because once I go inside the studio it’s like the outside world disappears for me. It’s a really inviting environment, super cozy, and just oozing with inspiration and potential. The people there are all coming together to work toward similar goals. The work is independent and self-directed but there’s a strong sense of community and connection. In a pottery studio you can pretty much be certain that you’re surrounded by other creatives and even if you don’t get a chance to talk you know that there’s some common ground there.
This might be an even more intense portal for me personally because when I’m trying to make some pottery it requires HARD focus. It is something I need more practice with and does not come naturally to me yet. I think the focus is intensified by the number of steps it takes to complete a single piece of pottery and my personal need of achieving some sort of Priyanka-standard of acceptable final product haha😅. The pottery portal also spans a long period of time because it can take multiple weeks to bring one pottery piece to completion.
The mind-spirit-body connection needed to create a piece of pottery brings the portal into full effect; you need to put your full body into forming a piece. My curiosity is always piqued in trying to make sure the pot is pulled just right or in the concentration needed to trim the dried clay precisely. I also think the chance to get your hands dirty and clay in your hair gets gets you fully immersed in the portal. We’re always taught to keep things clean and I’m usually so preoccupied with staying within the lines of life but all that falls away when you’re in the pottery studio.
Baby Priyanka circa 2019
Other possible portals:
A really good movie seen at the theater — you leave not knowing what day or time it is.
Photo print dark room. I think the darkness helps with channeling focus and making it more portal-like.
Meow Wolf because … duh!
Sewn circuits - I experimented with these last semester and they really just took over my whole brain! All I wanted to do was make more cute but functional circuits
Aquarium - ethically not great but awakens my inner child and curiosity for a whole other world existing on our planet
Painting - this sometimes feels like time travel to me. Starting a new project can be really hard, but once I get into it there’s nothing else I want to do but finish the painting I’ve started!
Traveling somewhere new and/or being a tourist
Looking into people’s apartments while riding the subway
Kaleidoscope !