Hi, are you showing up for the life in front of you right now? Did you know that you are creative in many ways throughout your day? How you dress; What foods you select and arrange on your plate; how you write that email to a peer. These are all forms of being creative. You could consider these normal routines and find that “an artistic adventure awaits”. Hmm, would looking through this lens make your day more enjoyable? Just sayin’, “It’s Your Life.”
Studio:
“Start where you are. Show up.” These are the thoughts that bounce around in my head as I roll thin coil after thin coil making the ceramic forms that I find interesting. It’s taken me more than 30 years of studio work, classes, workshops, studio and museum visits to arrive at what I am making today. I am excited by this new path. Instead of procrastinating with going into the studio, I am having a hard time leaving the studio.
You might be asking, why do I find this method so interesting? It’s because I have been searching for a way to abstractly relate my clay work to what I see when walking our beaches. I want my ceramic forms to reflect the ripples of sand and water, quietly. My goal is to always create technically sound ceramic work with great form. From there, I have tried painting on the surface of my pots. I have added texture with slips and glazes. I have added sand to my porcelain. I wasn’t getting the effect that I desired. It’s too early in my development of this new work, but, I think I am finally on the right path for me. It has taken more than 10,900 days to get here.
Gallery:
Muskegon Museum of Art: Transcending Tradition celebrates women figurative realist painters. The hope of this exhibition is to give insight into the struggles and challenges women artists have historically faced and to empower women artists of today that breaking tradition, in this context, is not a misdeed.
Do you remember Mark Chatterley’s sculptures? He has a solo exhibit in Grand Rapids at The Grey Rabbit, GR. This exhibit just opened and will run approximately 4-6 weeks.
If you are interested in excellent ceramics, here are the five ceramic museums that you need to visit: https://wheelandclay.com/blog/5-ceramic-museums/
Life:
Here in the Midwest, we are having a “Michigan” winter. Lots of snow and cold. I am grateful that I am living in my new space. I get to shovel only a little bit. Leo has me walking on Grand Haven’s heated sidewalks two to three times a day. When I served on the Downtown Development board, I suggested that our heated sidewalks should be paid for by the community not the small businesses located on Washington Street. Each morning and evening, I pass walkers of all ages. Runners pass me too. Our entire community benefits from this clean walkways.
My brain is spinning most days. Is yours? I wonder about the next clay project. I worry about our country. As I attend school board meetings, we listen to residents speak about their concerns. What I find interesting is that we live in the same community and have such opposite opinions about the world. As community members speak, I hope that they listen to their neighbor who has also decided to make a public comment. We need to find common ground. One thing I do believe is that our schools should be about educating our children in the best manner possible. It is our job to prepare them for the future.
I learned this past week that we have hundreds of homeless teens. They couch surf from home to home. These teens know that education is important and that they need to graduate. They continue to show up and attend school. It breaks my heart thinking about the effort it takes for them to be warm, get a good night’s sleep, and eat. I respect their resilience. If they have this many worries, how can they be prepared/ready to sit in a classroom to learn? In other communities across our country, how many teens are doing the same thing? How can we help them? It is our job as the adults to provide for them so that they can do their job – to get an education and prepare for adulthood. I don’t have any answers. I will keep talking about this problem though. Maybe if I keep talking about it and asking questions, we can find a way to help them. Just maybe, if we take care of our children, our world will become a better place to live and thrive.
Book suggestions:
When I was working in the corporate world and raising kids, I prided myself on my multi-tasking skills. I believed that I could do several things simultaneously, and well. As I have aged, I no longer believe in this concept. One of the books that I am reading right now is titled, “The miracle of mindfulness”. It has me concentrating on each task individually. I am finding that I enjoy my day much more as I concentrate on the task at hand. I wonder if I would have accomplished more or less in my 30’s and 40’s, if I focused on starting and finishing one task at a time.
Other books:
“I never thought of it that way” by Monica Guzman
“The World is Flat” by Thomas Friedman
All three of these books are available at our local bookstore, The Bookman (and online through them.). None of these books are new but if you haven’t read them, they are worth your time.
I would like to wrap up this post with a comment by Julia Galloway and a bit of my thoughts thrown in:
Julia Galloway, a clay artist who I respect and gives to our clay community in small and large ways, likes to say, “Start where you are. Show up.” Of course, she is talking about studio work. These are not mere phrases but the essence of a life well-lived. Do not be deceived into thinking that great change requires great spectacle. It requires only steadfastness – a commitment to the moment before you. The work before you. The people before you.”
As I think of my world and the bigger world, I believe that each of us can do one small act of kindness daily. These repeated behaviors will spread across the world and we will see change – in a very good way.
Please take care,
C2
