The ceramic pot began as mud from the riverbank where it is photographed. In the spring of 2020, while trying to make sense of how to work and play during a global pandemic, I began experimenting with harvesting, processing, throwing, and firing clay from the bank of the Assiniboine River in Winnipeg. Similar to my medical education research projects, I had to figure out how to sift the clay from the leaves and twigs and turn it into ceramic by getting my hands dirty and drawing on generations of knowledge and practices along the way. Some steps worked seamlessly. Other steps felt like an endless try-fail-repeat cycle. But eventually shape took form; meaning became clearer; function became evident.