SoulSeesBest

Clay is everywhere.

    It’s basically dirt. Earth. Cultures all over the world have history going back thousands of years of making mud, firing it, and using it as storage, decoration, and food ware. The earliest known use of clay was a statuette of Venus of Dolni Věstonice, dated 28,000 BCE, found in the Czech Republic (American Ceramic Society, 2024). The oldest form of clay pottery was found in Japan, dating approximately 14,500 BCE (Violatti, 2024).

    While the process is largely the same everywhere, the slight differences in mineral content and firing techniques play a major role in what each piece looks like. These differences are so distinct to regional and cultural era, pottery can be used to determine the age of an archaeological site by the fragments left behind, even when there are no written records to confirm it (Violatti, 2024).

On a spiritual level

    I feel like I have always had experience with clay. I remember playing in the yard with my cousins, making mud pies, or building sandcastles at the beach in Oceanside. I’ve spent many summers in New Mexico and remember finding pottery shards all over the desert. Even as I grew older, I enjoyed digging and scraping in the soil make a garden bed, or to prevent flood water from climbing onto the patio. 

    I’ve learned about its malleability on muddy soccer fields. I learned about its form reading ground balls while playing baseball in the summer. I can even distinctly recall a middle school world history class assignment that required making a Mesopotamian seal out of air-dry clay. It’s been around the whole time. 

    As a student of Environmental Science, and an advocate for sustainability, I understand the importance of clay pots in the garden. In my recent research into propagation, I found myself needing lots of new pots but, I don’t want to use plastic. They can get expensive to buy but, how hard could it be to make one? In September 2024, I began consciously exploring clay. I searched YouTube for videos on Ancient Pottery techniques, played with Play-Do, and consulted with Chat GPT on modern conventional practices. 

    I have been inspired. During one of my first intentional experiences with clay, I had an epiphany. Something I had been seeking for decades suddenly appeared. 

Keratoconus

    Growing up with Keratoconus was manageable. I did well in school. I played sports, was an excellent driver, and worked in several kitchens since my senior year in High School. Despite limitations to my eyesight, I always found a way to get by. I took pride in what I was capable of, despite my challenges. 

    However, by 2017, the contact lenses that were prescribed to manage my condition began to do more damage than good. Because my condition wouldn’t be alleviated with glasses, I spent a few years without any correction. It was both anxiety inducing and liberating. I had to learn to rely on my other senses, and muscle memory, to live day to day. At the same time, as a hyper aware defensive athlete, I began to notice some of the anxiety of feeling the need to read people start to fade, and I was less concerned with how I appeared to others. 

    In that time, I was even drawn to photography, a medium heavily reliant on the eye. I was not bound by intricate detail but, I developed a sense of “the bigger picture.” I became versed in the laws of composition, contrast, and color in way I may not have studied under other circumstances. While I have recently had my first corneal transplant, restoring one eye to a moderate level, achieving a proper focus and definition is still a challenge for me. However, I’ve embraced my unique perspective, just the same.

SoulSeesBest Handcraft

    My resilient spirit just won’t allow me to wallow. I’ve been collecting disability but, I refuse to allow it to be an excuse to not pursue a worthwhile living. Without being able to drive safely, especially where I am in California, makes a significant hurdle in finding a job. Not to mention, the levels of safety I would have to consider in roles requiring attention to detail, such as in a kitchen or working a cash register. So, I’ve been longing for a kind of work that I could do without the need for perfect vision. 

    While it will still take some work to make an actual living with clay, it was the first time that I felt like I could do something productive, even if my eye support happens to fail me. I’m hoping that a collector, investor, or customer might see the value in that beyond the physical matter, once I begin to make pieces available.

    I started SoulSeesBest as a brand and idea to convey that message in my work. It is also to document the process, not only for that purpose but also, to hold myself accountable in continuing to learn and grow in this space. It might also serve as inspiration for others who are faced with disability and similar challenges.

See For Yourself

You can watch me live streaming on Twitch (Disclaimer: Adult Content) and find more video content on YouTube.

• @WriterJoshua on YouTube

• @WriterJoshua on Twitch

Resources:

American Ceramic Society. (2024). A Brief History of Ceramics and Glass. Ceramics.org. https://ceramics.org/about/what-are-ceramics/a-brief-history-of-ceramics-and-glass/

Violatti, Cristian. (2014). Pottery in Antiquity. WorldHistory.org. https://www.worldhistory.org/pottery/