Hiep Le’s left hand curls around the base of the spinning lump of wet clay. His right presses hard across the top, cords of muscle rising along his thin forearm. His hands wobble on the uneven clay, then steady as it centers on the wheel. He drives his thumbs into the middle of the mound, curling its sides outward, then, grasping them with his long fingers, deftly draws it up into a cylinder.
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Le had wanted to be a surgeon. In the early 70s only 400 people a year were accepted into South Vietnam’s six-year medical programs; 20,000 would apply. He’d finished four years when Saigon fell in 1975. His family, which had fled Haiphong when the communists took over the north in the 1950s, had already packed what they could carry. They headed for the river, by chance to the place where barges were waiting to pick up Vietnamese who’d worked for the American government. No one asked for proof as thousands of people pushed on.
When he got his degree in 1982, Le went back to work full-time and gave up pottery until after he moved to Chicago five years later. He now lives in Rogers Park, working full-time for a picture-framing business in Arlington Heights and spends around ten hours a week throwing pots and teaching at the Clayworks pottery studio.
A free exhibit of Le’s pottery runs through Sunday, November 7, at Clayworks, 1405 W. Lunt; hours are 2 to 9:30 Tuesday through Friday, and noon to 9 Saturday and Sunday. For more information call 262-2522.
