New Years Resolutions 2014

Looking ahead to the new year, I’m going to explore the same themes in my pottery as in my personal life. This is no big insight or revelation to those who study the things that drive artists. No matter what we say our motives are, we also want to create something we don’t find in our life outside the studio. We are alchemists, magickians, philosophers, mad scientists, shamans intuitively calling forth objects that exist because our will, our vision, needed them to be.

For the last decade or so, I’ve worked on the symmetry of concentric shapes:

This past year I’ve been captivated by the negative space between vessels side by side. And isn’t it fascinating that the term for this is “negative space”? Since, coincidently, a lot of what sits between people as we get close to each other ain’t so harmonious. I wonder why that is. So this New Years Day, as I set intentions for the next spin around our sun, I choose to explore that gap of negative space. An old line from a Pink Floyd song played in my mind when I thought about it- “If I were a good man, I’d understand the spaces between friends.”

I think it will be an exciting and productive year ahead!

as 2009 ends

It was a year unlike any other of my life, and one that has taught the lessons of adversity. I think we're getting good at the making lemonade when life hands you lemons thing. We had a power outage for the last night of Chanukah, and sat by candlelight all evening, playing board games, roasting mini- marshmallows in the tiny candle flames, and finally just talking. It was one of the best evenings we've spent.

Next we had a blizzard, and when the shoveling was done, we made a snowman. He is still there, a symbol of the crazy mad laughter that is available no matter what the circumstances. When you strip everything bare, you can see quite clearly how the simplest moments and the humblest things are an invitation to happiness and joyful abandon. The way a cardinal looks against the stark snow. The cat that curls up on a present under the tree. The teenage girls, who for no particular reason decide one day to begin a conversation as if you are someone worth asking.

I walked past the brook I love today, and it was silent with ice, as if holding its breath. There is no breeze. Only expectation, as we wait for the last night to invite our wishes and prayers.

Happy New Year! Dare to dream huge, and may all you envision be yours!