Movement Toward the New Desire

At this point in the process of this thing called life, I have noticed that when I know what I really want, obstacles show up. Yesterday was the day of obstacles and barrier jumping, many of them physical. I wonder if when you move in the direction that you have always wanted to move, these barriers and obstacles have always been there, but now they are apparent, or are they there because we need to know if this really is what our hearts desire is? Maybe it's like babies and children when the first want to move and get from one place to the other, they try and try different modes until something works. Maybe when we move in a new direction and barriers and obstacles come up, they are there because we have not yet learned to move in that particular way. I think that is most of it, but somehow I think there might be more to it. Maybe the universe just is used to a particular movement and our changing modes upsets things until we have established that mode as our normal modes. There might be some truth in that. What I know is that changing modes is really not for the faint of heart. Even when you know, like you know, like you really know what it is what you want, much effort it takes to make the first few movements toward the goal.

I chose this image because I love this little bottle so much. No other reason.

Change

So many things are moving these days. I am spending today applying to galleries and shows. My workshop ideas are moving along too, and with any luck and positive work, things should happen in ways I can't even imagine now. Life is good, very good!

The Pearl Company

http://thepearlcompany.ca/

This is one of the pieces at The Pearl Company 16 Steven Street Hamilton ON. I recommend anyone who can to check them out. Lots of stuff happens at The Pearl Company, and something is bound to interest you. Yesterday afternoon, I met with Barbara Milne who accepted some of my work for her gallery shop. As someone new on the art scene, this is huge for me. I have dreamed about this for a long time, and know it is the beginning of my work out in the public eye. I say go for what you know you want. Work it out the way it comes to you. We are not alone in the universe and sometimes connections take us where we want to be, other times the inner voice points us out to where we need to be. Since my father's fall and death last year, I put more stock into that inner voice. I do believe we all know what we need to be doing, we just need to strike out and do it.

Today

I'm off today to go to The Pearl and show my stuff. I am so excited about it, and am having trouble picking what to bring. I love my stuff so much. Life is good!

How I Work

This is a detail of one of my bowls. I love the texture of this piece. Each time I strike or punch or touch the clay, the clay records that. It tells the story of its own creation. Each event in our lives adds to the story of who we are, who we were and who we are becoming. Each time the clay worked, the story of its creation is told, but the story changes until the creator says this is what I am talking about, this is the word I am trying to say, this is the end of this story. As artist, we often work in series, working on concepts we wish to express until we know that we are done saying this story, writing this poem, and singing the song we want to sing. I suppose it's like a writer writing in drafts, until it is done. Sometimes writers work in series because what they want to say is so large and long that it takes awhile to say it. I think we work that way in our own lives, creating our own story, reworking it until we want to move on to the next story. Each morning we wake up as a new person, having a new thing to express, having taken with us what ever experience we choose to take with us to the next part of our story. We can let go of things and hold on to others just as I keep or remove a mark in my piece until I know it is what I want to say.

What We Want

What if what we want isn't riches after all?
What if it's a life of peace and joy?
What then?
What does that make us?
What if our deepest and most desperate desires of our hearts are indeed love of neighbor?
What would the world be like then?

I don't know, but I'd like to find out.

Listening and Creating

I have found that when I relax and let things happen, unfold, that life is better for me. When I try to assert my will on a situation, as tempting as it always is, my life is harder. It is that way with making art. When I let go of the process, and listen to what I call the back of my head, the piece works. When I go into a "meditative" mode in making, my art is so much better. I still consider everything, I just listen to the piece in a different way. When I have conceived a work in my head in its completeness it is as if it has already been formed and done. I can no longer create it, if I try it falls apart. If I let go of a concept and let it "live" its life as it were, I can then create it. I have to listen to the process, and clay for my pieces to work. When I impose my will on them, the do not work. I find that is true with the rest of my life. When I let go and let things go along a natural path, my life is good. When I make things up in my head the way they should me, things don't go as well for me. I find I have to listen, or read my life and live that way rather than creating it all in my head first.

Raku Vessel

I love this little vessel. When I look over the shapes of my work, this is one that I make the most. My professor used to talk about the clay speaking to us and this shape is a word or thought that I seem to like a lot. My hand built vessels are figurative in nature. I started sculpting in clay when I first started using clay. Most if not all of my vessels are about the human being. I look at this vessel and think, that looks like me.

I don't like lots of glaze. In fact, I like to have thin layers of glaze and wipe it off, so that I can have a distressed look. I don't like it too shiny, shiny. I like the rough look, like it came out of the earth.

The Raku process really speaks to me because the process is quick, and you never know what you are going to get. You can set up the conditions to be one way, and then the conditions of the kiln, or the combustibles or the time before you put the piece in the combustibles can change the way the piece looks, and even impose itself on the piece in a way you could never predict. Raku is like life, you can plan all you want, and probably should, but in the end you get what you get.

Gifts

Today, I am looking at making submissions to vaious places to show my work. I have never done this before, so it is a new adventure for me. This is where the rubber meets the road and where I have to practice what I say I believe. Abba Poemen once said that we need to teach our mouths to say what is in our hearts. I believe that, I also believe that faith without works is dead. Someone else said that. With these two words in my head and heart, I move forward. I believe that we are each created with at least one very good gift to share and transfigure the world we live in. I say at least one, because I think we are given more gifts than we know, but each gift can be used to make the world a place of joy. I am too old to keep my gifts to myself, and must share them. For me it's a moral issue. I can't keep creating and stock piling my work. It's just not right. I can't keep my other gifts to myself either, and so I am developing my workshops. I see art as a doorway to the soul. Be at peace, find your joy and share it.

Alley Orchard

This is a strange little image. Again, it is in an alley way in Hamilton. This used to be an orchard, but the man lost it and his home to a bet many, many years ago, and now the orchard is overgrown and in disorder. It's interesting to me that once love stops, things fall apart. I mean things, not just people's relationship, but the things they have. The energy that went into creation or even basic up keep, leaves a place and atrophy sets in and with it comes destruction. Hamilton is filled with alleys and stories. Who would expect an orchard less than three miles from the steel mills? I love the passion of Hamilton. To Canada, Hamilton is this mean steel town, but I have not seen it. Sure, there is crime, and there is pain associated with life in a city, but in Hamilton, I see hope. Once we stop loving our city, our home, this kind of destruction can set in. We can have an orchard or we can have an overgrown lot that produces fruit too small to eat.

This is an alley way by my house. Hamilton has the best alleys. I like walking down them because you never know what you might find. It's finding a new world in your own backyard. I won't lie, there is a element of fear because you never know what you might meet, but that is part of the thrill. I took this picture last Fall when I needed a break from the business plan writing. I needed to think with the other part of my brain, the part I like to think with.

Beauty of Life Cycle

This photo was taken last year in Gage Park. What a treasure Gage Park is for the City of Hamilton. I love the perfection of form this tree has, and the light of that day underpins the color of the trunk in early spring before the buds begin to form. This tree is just awakening from sleep, and has it's full beauty in this time of its cycle. I wish we all could love each stage of our lives and see the beauty of the moment we are in.

Raku Bottle

This little darling is a hand built raku bottle. It is not functional, but I love to hold it. I love raku because the process it random. You can set up all the conditions, and you never know what it will be when it's done.

Seminars and Workshops

Fire and Light Studio is currently working on seminars and workshops for women in the community. Workshops will focus on giving clients a safe place to discover their creative and spiritual power allowing them to explore their own images and symbols. Fire and Light Studio’s workshops are for those seeking change, self-discovery and exploration of a new creative process. These workshops will encourage women to share their knowledge, wisdom and insights as well as learn from others. They will focus on seeing and learning in an experiential creative manner, helping women visualize and convey what they need to express to get to the next level of learning or healing.