Monday, August 20, 2007

the clay is waiting

The studio is still in the process of being put back together. I’m trying to contain myself and my impatience to get back to work and put it all back together in a thoughtful way. I’m almost there. In the meantime I thought I would post a comment that came through the other night to an old post, and my response to it. I edited the comment to get to the heart of what the person was writing. As someone who has fallen in love and been brokenhearted many times I could totally feel for this person, while also being pleased that I’ve gotten some distance and some perspective on the pitfalls of love!

Maria wrote:
Today I googled "how to let go of beautiful moments" and this blog came up as a result 'cause of the words Beautiful and Let Go. Oddly, I am a ceramic student w/ 1 more class to take to graduate:... I'm trying to let go of this one guy and the moments we shared, hence my google search. ..And, well, I've kinda lost all desire to work with clay…How could something like a break-up drive me away from clay when on the contrary, I feel I should have gotten me more into it, if only to not think of him… I guess the question is, how does one work with clay or any art consistently when everything around you seems to be falling apart? But I think I know the answer already "just start making something and don't stop" But it is so hard. :(

I wrote:
Everything IS falling apart, all the time. As human beings we are (usually) blessed the ability to cope with our ongoing process of falling apart and learning from it. Nothing is perfect and it never will be. But we are driven to try for those perfect moments, and keep trying. If you are an artist you have the amazing ability to create something beautiful from this process of trying and striving and sometimes --often-- failing. Enjoy it. Quit yer cryin' and get back to work! The clay is waiting!

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:49 AM

    Absolutely lovely post!

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  2. Anonymous12:33 PM

    Hi Whitney! I just got back from SF and saw your lovely plates at Miette. I'm so glad you have a website 'coz I so adore those dogwood cake stands and plates.

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  3. ok...gonna have to bookmark that reply so I can go back and read it when I need a good kick in the pants!

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  4. Anonymous7:33 AM

    Hi Whitney,
    welcome back from Japan!. I wanted to leave a comment to your heartbroken blogger. After waking up this morning haunted by a certain re-acurring dream I still have(25 years later)about a boy I was in love with in College, one that did not return my feeling entirely the way I wanted. I was struck by the idea, as you said, that things are constantly falling apart. I have had a particularly difficult summer trying to get my work done. Mostly related to too much chaos in my life. And this post may have tied together the reason I have this dream all of the time. Not because I still love my old college boyfriend, but because of the feeling of helplessness and sadness attached to it. I usually find strength in doing my work even in the most crazy of times because it has become a place that I do always feel strong. Even doing the most tedious thing, like loading a kiln can give me a little serenity . Creating beautiful things isn't really always the point, (too much pressure)just the doing of something that you love, can make you feel better and move you along.

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