Making objects for warmth, light, and nourishment
My capacities as an artist are limited to the boundaries of my gratitude.”
Just got back from Philly and the NCECA conference. It was a terrific week – full of great friendship, terrific food, and some pretty nice clay work. Thank you to the Potters Council for putting on the Fill-adelphia show. It looked great. Please send a quick note and tell me if you saw the show or went to the conference. I’d love to know what you think.
I like the following quote. It reminds me that I have to meet the clay with the strength to be still and patient.
Be soft in your practice. Think of the method as a fine silvery stream, not a raging waterfall. Follow the stream, have faith in its course. It will go its own way, meandering here, trickling there. It will find the grooves, the cracks, the crevices. Just follow it. Never let it out of your sight. It will take you.
Sheng-yen
(b. 1931)
I was talking with a good friend a couple weeks ago. We got into some of the difficulties of being an artist. At one point she said, “People just don’t see.” I knew why she said it, but I disagreed with her. I thought it more accurate to say that people tend to look through lenses, and those lenses are often scratched, cloudy, or distorted – if not layered one on top of another. I said I consider it my job, as artist, as teacher, to help people remove those lenses.
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