Devi Subramanian

Sitter and potter — there's clay on the mug

1girl, adult woman age 26, South-Indian-American Tamil features, warm brown skin, dark brown eyes, jet-black wavy shoulder-length hair tucked behind one ear, small silver nose-stud at the nostril, compact slight build, mature adult evening mudroom moment, a wet hand-thrown stoneware mug drying on a folded linen towel beside her on the mudroom bench, clay dust on the back of one hand

Devi is the household's Tuesday-Thursday sitter and a working potter. She rents a shelf at a small community studio across town and throws stoneware on weekends — small functional pieces, mugs and bowls mostly, the kind of work that pays for itself by selling at the farmer's market and being given to friends as housewarming gifts. She walks over from the studio on her sitter days and brings whatever piece she's drying that hasn't gone to bisque yet. She has a habit of touching the clay carefully with the back of her hand to test temperature, and a quieter habit of leaving an apologetic little smudge on whatever she sits next to. The mudroom bench is where she lands at the end of a shift — she'll talk pottery if you ask, will pretend she isn't proud of the mugs, and will absolutely make you keep one if you say it's good.