An Apprentice

An apprentice is someone seeking to learn their calling by practical experience from a skilled worker already established in that trade. An apprentice by ancient standards was actually bound, like a slave, to the master. You may recognize this from certain movies; the father and mother "giving" their son away, almost signing him off, to be completely at the mercy of the master. Often, though, an apprenticeship is found within a family. A father would apprentice his sons in the family trade, most likely passed down for generations.

Both master and apprentice alike took this very seriously. Some cultures were more strict than others (and still are!). Read the following few lines from an ancient Hindu text at a pottery in India:

"The apprentice looked at the artisans ... as the ones who will open inner doors so that precise skill begins to come and unfold within them. Therefore, each of the apprentices approached his artisan or executive in a very humble and open way, being careful never to relate to him as a physical person or to seek special favors from him that the others did not receive. The artisans and executives were very careful also that they did not show any favoritism among their apprentices. This allowed each one to qualify himself only by his skills. Each artisan and executive ... distinguished themselves by their skills and abilities to pass them on in a transparent and humble way to others. For there was only one reward, that of excellence and precision in what they did produce..."

When I began work today, I told my "artisan" about the excerpt above. She told me a little more about the tradition in Japan; they don't explain. The apprentice must learn almost primarily by observation. But an apprentice does not just sit and watch. If you imagine an office where you have to start out "in the mail room". You copy papers, get people coffee and lunch, clean the office microwave, answer phones, and regularly ship things via UPS. The CEO rarely even sees you and you don't do anything directly relating to business. At the large potteries, that's the way it works. The apprentices must work their way up, not by time but by proving their skill. They clean the studio, dig clay, process the clay, make and clean tools, wedge the clay, and before electric wheels they actually turned the wheel for the master (I will hopefully get a chance to explain all of these things). An apprentice didn't get to throw (the verb for turning the clay on the wheel) until much later in the process. Towards the end of their apprenticeship, many were required to submit their "masterpiece" to a group of masters. It would be inspected and, hopefully, approved. Once they pass this last test, they would be considered freemen.

Today, there are standards, legislation, and committees regarding apprenticeships. People are no longer indentured. Industry and modern technology drastically changed the apprentice's place in a trade. But the apprentice is still alive and well through all of these changes.

My grandmother was a potter, my mother is a potter, and I am a potter. I love being able to work in our small family tradition! But you know, I didn't really have a choice ... not because I am indentured (!), but because I have art going back many generations on both sides of my family and it is coursing through my veins.

So, at the end of the day today, my mom turned to me and said, "I wonder how its going to be when I stop looking at you and talking to you...", as if we were going to embark on the old style of master and apprentice, "being careful never to relate to [each other] as a physical person." Ha! Thank goodness for a little modernity!