Like any social media user, over the last few years I have been continually bombarded with posts from people who have gone to all kinds of workshops. of art. From making clay bowls to painting tote bags, anything is worth taking the required photo while having a glass of wine or snacks with friends or strangers. All for the modest price of a piece of kidney. That’s how I saw it. A little piece of capitalism wrapped in glitter and pastel colors, together with one more check in the list of photos that any good Instagram user of the 21st century should have. However, over time I began to think that perhaps there was something more.
The fever for ceramic or painting workshops It’s lasting long enough to be a simple fad. What if it actually had some use that is hooking all those people who not only dare to do it once, but often repeat it? It is clear that it has a relationship with capitalism. But what if, beyond being just another part of the machine, it was a way to relieve the stress and anxiety generated by illness? hyperproductivity of that capitalist society in which we live? I talked about it with the health psychologist Amanda Ortiz Gabaldonwho told me that, indeed, my thoughts were not wrong.
That’s why I decided to do one of these workshops. I have always considered that crafts are not my thing. Honestly, my soul hurt for spending 50 euros in a ceramics workshop to make an amorphous vase. That’s why, when I found out that the Andalusian Neighborhood Site in Almería, where I live, was organizing a free ceramics workshop, I didn’t think twice. It was time to take the test.
The benefits of ceramic workshops
For Ortiz Gabaldón, there are three key reasons why ceramic workshops and other artistic activities are so fashionable. To begin with, human beings are social animals, but today we live in an individualized society. We have a visceral need to interact with other people and that is something that ceramic workshops can give us. “We are super disconnected and these are ways to meet new people.”
On the other hand, ceramic workshops and other artistic disciplines are a way of mindfulness. “It is a way of being present, of forcing ourselves to stop.” During the duration of the workshop, there are no emails to answer, no work to do or shopping lists to prepare. It only remains be present on site and concentrate on the task. We can also do this at home. We can even set ourselves the daily task of doing nothing. We can sit on the couch and meditate, read, or just stop. But of course, this requires a concentration that we are not always able to achieve. That is why the third reason why, according to Ortiz Gabaldón, these types of workshops succeed is so important.
“We are doing something pleasant, but producing, and our brain loves that.” That’s right, although we are disconnecting from the tasks that stress us, we are also producing. We are manufacturing something. That calms that feeling of having to continually do things that causes us so much anxiety. The ideal would be to be able to sit and do nothing; but, while we get there, this is an ideal middle ground.
Shape to not think about anything
In 1999, a psychologist from the Kyoto University of Education named Fumio Kayo saw something that caught his attention when visiting a kindergarten in that city. Both children and teachers were focused and enjoying the simple task of making mud balls. But they didn’t just roll balls. They used a technique that consists of taking wet sand to mold it and adding dry soil little by little, with great patience, until they obtained a soft, hard and shiny ball. The technique is called Hikaru Dorodango and Kayo saw it as an opportunity to work with children beyond that school.
Upon studying it in depth, he discovered that it is very useful for children’s intellectual development for many reasons. There are the obvious reasons, such as improving fine motor skills. But there are also deeper reasons. Spending so much time shaping helps children improve concentration and perseverance through trial and error. Furthermore, they manage to overcome the immediate gratification drive which is increasingly ingrained in both children and adults. They don’t get a dopamine hit from watching a 20-second video. They must sit and concentrate on that ball of clay that is forming in their hands until, with time and patience, they get a nice marble.
After Kayo published several articles about herthis technique crossed barriers to the West and became a form of meditative art that is also successful among adults. In a way, you achieve exactly the same thing as with ceramic workshops, but without more incentives such as a snack or interactions with other people.
Whatever the case, it is increasingly clear that these activities have a great use against anxiety. In 2024, for example, a study was published in which 53 university students were surveyed regarding their mental health before and after completing a series of art therapy workshops. It was found that self-perceived anxiety levels decreased significantly with the workshops, especially those in which clay modeling was involved. It is true that normally these types of studies They are done with very few participants, but the reality is that they all point to very similar results that fit with what we have already seen.
I have corroborated it
Lately I’ve been going through a time of enough stressso I threw myself into the ceramics workshop hoping that it would really work for me as the psychologists say. And the truth is that yes. It was almost three hours on a Sunday morning molding an Andalusian lamp. Three hours in which, indeed, I focused on the here and now. I won’t deny that from time to time my mind wandered to everything I had to do that afternoon, which was no small thing. Even so, the mud required my attentionso I couldn’t get too hung up on those thoughts.
On the other hand, although I went with my partner, I also I interacted with the other two people with whom we share a work table. It helped me socialize. And, indeed, it must have seemed good to my brain to be producing. If you add to that that I got ideas to write this article, we can consider it even more productive. It’s all a win win.
During the time that the workshop lasted, I focused on the here and now
And yes, I will not deny that I uploaded a photo to Instagram, even though, as a good crafts clumsy, the result was not the most attractive in the world. We have very internalized that part of showing the world that we do things, that our lives are interesting. Normally we do not show the moments when we cannot cope with day-to-day tasks. We teach trips, sunsets, visits to the gym or ceramic workshops. We show that we take care of ourselves and that we enjoy life, but we don’t show off on social media the moments when we can’t take it anymore.
Possibly that is why, sometimes, it seems to us that we are alone. That we are the only ones incapable of governing our lives. But the reality is that it is something much more common than it seems. Only we have to stop scrolling and stop to talk to other people beyond the screens. This can be done in a pottery workshop; but, in reality, also in many other circumstances. The key, in short, is to socialize and stop for a moment. There are millions of ways to do that. Although not with all of them you can put a nice lamp made by you in your living room.
Image | Magnificent | Alberto Prieto
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