The Potter and the Apprentice
A Parable Inspired by David Hockney
In a quiet town there lived a potter, renowned not for the number of pots he made, but for the way his work seemed to hold something of the earth’s breath within it. People would come from far away to drink tea from his cups, saying that even water tasted different when held in his clay.
One day, a young apprentice came to him.
“Master,” he said, “teach me your tools, so that I too may create such pots. Tell me the secret of your wheel, your kiln, your glazes.”
The potter smiled. He showed the apprentice the wheel, how it spun. He opened the kiln, explaining the fire. He mixed the glazes, describing their chemistry. The apprentice learned quickly. His hands grew strong, his pots precise.
And yet, when people came to drink from them, they said, “These are good pots. But they do not sing.”
Frustrated, the apprentice asked, “Why do my pots not carry the life yours do? I have mastered every tool.”
The potter placed his hand on the apprentice’s shoulder.
“You have learned the high-tech of potting, the wheel, the kiln, the glaze. But high-tech needs low-tech; they are forever joined. You must also learn the listening, the patience, the touch. Clay is earth, water, air, and fire in conversation. It asks for care, not just control. Understanding a tool will not explain the magic. Nothing will. That is why it is magic.”
The apprentice was silent. He began again, not to master but to attend, to the weight of the clay in his hands, to the silence of the turning wheel, to the whisper of fire in the kiln.
Slowly, his pots began to carry something more: not just form, but presence. Not just skill, but beauty.
And in time, when people drank from them, they smiled, saying,
“This one sings.”
The David Hockney book is a little gem.
Some small reproductions of his artwork - but mainly a collection of short aphorisms and quotes about the way he has learned to see the world differently and render it in paint. I felt a lot of resonance with his words.
Two quotes particularly inspired this tale:
“High tech needs low tech - they are forever joined…”
and
“Understanding a tool doesn’t explain the magic of creation. Nothing can.”
Both speak to me of the need for effectiveness to be sweetened with beauty, with discernment, if we are to produce anything worthwhile or of lasting value.