So way way back in June when I came home from
Penland I committed to making hundreds:
100 mugs, 100 plates, 100 bowls.
The idea was to learn how to make them very well. Practice and make them good. The kind of pots you love to hold, to use, to display. The kind of pots you start a relationship with.
Things were kicking along pretty well with the mugs and bowls and at some point I started in on the plates. And then at some point I just stopped with the plates. I think I made 10. Not a lot. I have probably made 200 mugs, close to 100 bowls. So why am I not making plates?
I started making other random things, like casseroles and serving dishes, vases, even buttons.
Chris and I have been thinking a lot about what we fill our lives with that is really just a way to avoid what matters, or what might be hard sometimes. Chaos we create that sort of muddles things up. Looking around our house there are piles of things that increase that muddling. Were we to clean up those piles, would we feel more clear headed, able to focus on important things, on simple things?
for real. (i straightened it up, too)Sometimes I feel so overwhelmed by all the things I want to make. And learn. And it's so hard to decide and focus that I sort of choose it all and it all ends up mediocre.
I am not trying to be hard on myself, just trying to figure it all out. With each firing I do these days, things change in my work, like I am getting closer to honing in on what I want to say. And yet it still feels so far away. But still so possible. So, on to plates....maybe. On to the important stuff.
May your lives be full. And empty.
Here are a few examples of what you'll see at at second storie on my table this weekend. I am really excited about this work. I think that the creamy surface needs some depth, somehow, without taking away the simplicity and quietude of the drawings. I'll experiment with whites over whites, maybe yellows?
So holiday shopping time is now upon us. And despite the economic crisis, we're still spending. Where do you all plan to shop? The activity of shopping itself should be fun, and the items we buy should be beautiful, good quality and hold meaning. A lot of people I know have taken the Handmade Pledge, a beautiful idea in the world of mass consumption.
I have asked my husband to write a blog post about shopping locally for the holidays. He writes a lot and works on multiple levels in the local foods movement. The local art and craft movement shares much of the same issues, so I am looking forward to what he has to say. Come back tomorrow to read that! And support your local potter (and photographer...and seamstress...and baker...and jeweler...and woodworker)!
