I feel like I learned a lot from the pile of Theaster Gates interviews, talks, and articles I just went through. Mostly it's about his experience as a Black potter, and his engagement with Japanese pottery traditions. Also the work of Dave Drake, a 19th c potter who incised his name and poems on the pots he made while and after being enslaved in South Carolina. Making something good from complicated things is a useful skill. Gates just opened an exhibition at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo.












