“When the soul wishes to experience something, she throws an image of the experience out before her and enters into her own image.’ –Meister Eckhart
When I stare at the chalky grayness of clay, I use my mind’s eye to give it color. Unlike paint, glaze contains little resemblance to the final fired color, so I have trained myself through the years, to mentally try on my various glazes until I visualize the ones I want. I also choose, first in my imagination, the little embellishments like the wire twig on my Owl House ornament.
This ability to dream, to see in my mind’s eye, to explore what might be, to give birth to possibility, is a skill that serves me well in my art and in my life.
Owl House began with this feeling that this holiday season will be full of joy, magic, and everyday blessings. I shut my eyes and immersed myself in that feeling, and the image of the little owl perched in it’s snug home, staring with curiosity, emerged.
your owls just exude that feeling you described about the holidays... they are wonderful... i am very much appreciating your post about creating an identifiable body of work... this is something that i have been thinking about a great deal... and i think that is where the true self emerges - expressed in your own way, with your intentions imbued in it... you definitely have an identifiable look and it is a beautiful one - congratulations!
ReplyDeleteThis is wonderful! I've always thought it was so amazing how ceramic artists must visualize the final color of a glaze. The wire adds so much to your already adorable creation!
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