Friday, July 06, 2007

first days

I am living in unimaginable luxury here at Rioji Matsumiya studio/compound with some of the most amazing artists I have ever met. I will post more later about the setup here, but I’ll just share with you now what I have been doing. The first few days… not much. The jetlag was difficult and my brain was not fully operational. I was also coming down off all the stress from the last orders I shipped before leaving the States. I finally made a vase, a very typical vase for me, the cherry blossom branch one you see here. I hated it. It was so boring, but I made it and put it aside. That night, after drinking too much whiskey with my new pals, I went to bed thinking about how much I didn’t like this vase I made. It seemed like a fussy old lady. I laid in bed and couldn’t get to sleep, imagining cutting up this vase into pieces. Finally I realized I could get up and go to the studio (it’s open 24 hours) and cut it up if I wanted to. After all, that’s what I’m here for and I have nothing else to do but stay up all night cutting up vases if that’s my thing! So I went down to the studio, cranked up some Led Zeppelin, and went at the vase with a razor blade. The vase was already to too hard and dry to cut up much, so this is what I did, and I love it now!

7 comments:

  1. Anonymous1:35 PM

    Which Led Zepplin were you listening too?

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  2. How the West Was Won, very weird and a little creepy in the middle of the night, but totally appropriate!

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  3. Anonymous4:52 PM

    Sweet!

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  4. Anonymous10:19 PM

    Hey Whit,
    I'm already LOVING reading your travelogue...
    rock on. Tomorrow is the Palo Alto clay and
    glass fest.... you will be missed, though your
    work looks awsome!
    xoxox,
    Sara Paloma

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  5. The idea that your studio is open for 24 hrs, is so liberating! I wish we all had that luxury in our life.

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  6. girl, i am lovin' that vase! and all of those AMAZING photos you posted - i got envious over and over again. i'm hopping on the next plane over there...you said all potters are welcome, right? p.s. do you think you'll ever come back?

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  7. I love the 'ripped' vase! Great breakthrough. Just be yourself...as if you could be anything else. Love reading posts, too! Very inspiring...

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