Thoughts

I feel as though my work with the wabi sabi aesthetic, vessels, native clays, and wood firing currently forms the outer limits of my efforts and ideas – like an umbrella casting a shadow on all that lies beneath. With this method of thinking I find myself getting continuously stuck with regard to accepting inspiration that does not necessarily fit within this frame. I'm thinking of ways to engage in a way of living, thinking, and working that creates something beyond this constriction – an expansion of this outer limit.

I'm interested in how these ideas which inform my vessel work and connection to the world around me exist on levels that are understood beyond barriers of culture, language, and time. The expressions of wabi, sabi, and yugen need not be defined with words due to their universal and enduring reach. At the very distant edge of this field I perceive a series of ideas coming into fruition that possess a similar capacity for universal translation. These ideas are related to language, memory, time, change, and how we use them to access the world around us.

Fragments of seemingly insignificant memories are brought back to the conscious level by various stimuli, weaving together unique tapestries of events, emotions, and experiences. Our physical senses become powerful tools in creating this assemblage of memory. I am interested in how to develop and document these ideas, whether through clay, other media, or simply by making observations. I am highly interested in the possibility that this stitching together of memory, whether intentionally or unexpectedly, is a universal habit shared by all human beings throughout time, and therefore another viable means of breaking down the barriers of language and culture as obstacles for communication.

Can one recognize and communicate the ineffable feeling of finding home a thousand miles away? of the perpetual state of deja vu brought on by hearing a song from one's childhood?