Gallery, Studio and Life Musings, 34: Putting things in boxes ⋆ C2C

Somehow two weeks have gone by. Does this happen to you? How do you resolve questions or difficult situations? Do you put them into mental boxes for considering at a later time?

I fired my gas kiln two days ago. Yeah! The days and weeks seem to run together. We have been working in the yard and house. Getting both ready for family visits. Plus, getting work done in the studio and the gallery.

Julie Devers is delivering new pottery this weekend. We are very excited to get these pieces photographed and out into the world. We will have new pour-overs, serving pieces, and more. I have a few new mugs plus 80 small houses and vases.

Why so many houses? I have been thinking about time passing. How do we spend our time? How did you spend your time in the past 18 months? A song always goes through my mind by Malvina Reynolds, “Little Boxes”.

Little Boxes by Malvina Reynolds

Little boxes on the hillside

Little boxes made of ticky tacky

Little boxes on the hillside

Little boxes all the same

There’s a pink one and a green one

And a blue one and a yellow one

And they’re all made out of ticky tacky

And they all look just the same

And the people in the houses

All went to the university

Where they were put in boxes

And they came out all the same

And there’s doctors and lawyers

And business executives

And they’re all made out of ticky tacky

And they all look just the same

And they all play on the golf course

And drink their martinis dry

And they all have pretty children

And the children go to school

And the children go to summer camp

And then to the university

Where they are put in boxes

And they come out all the same

And the boys go into business

And marry and raise a family

In boxes made of ticky tacky

And they all look just the same

There’s a pink one and a green one

And a blue one and a yellow one

And they’re all made out of ticky tacky

And they all look just the same

“Little Boxes” is a song written and composed by Malvina Reynolds in 1962, which became a hit for her friend Pete Seeger in 1963, when he released his cover version.

The song is a political satire about the development of suburbia, and associated conformist middle-class attitudes. It mocks suburban tract housing as “little boxes” of different colors “all made out of ticky-tacky“, and which “all look just the same”. “Ticky-tacky” is a reference to the shoddy material supposedly used in the construction of the houses.^[1]