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| POTTERY VERSUS WRITING |
My two boyfriends are tired of sharing. (No, not like that. My husband knows he's my one and only. 23 years together should have ironed out any questions by now.)
Pottery. Writing. There is a duel on the horizon. Pistols are drawn. I'm not sure I have much to say about the outcome. Even as we speak, I am writing this blog, with the current issue Ceramics Monthly flipped open, right next to the computer. (BTW, there's an article on Brian R. Jones in there. With an articulate, honest take on what life is like for a full-time potter. See? I can't stop myself.)
In the past, I have been a sort of all-or-nothing sort of girl. Not a big problem until these two boyfriends came to woo me. Now what? What am I?
Am I a writer?
Am I potter?
This blog was a way to combine the two. So it was settled: I am a potter who writes.
Then I wrote a play. And started a novel. Now I'm halfway through writing a novel. So okay: I am a writer.
So I just got another ceramics commission - a large job. And there are these big framed pieces I want to make. Yep, you guessed it: I am a potter.
These loves of mine are both handsome. They are both good kissers. But I'm fickle. I can't decide between the two. So, starting today, guess what? I'm not going to. I'm going to date both of them and I'm going to let them worry about it. They'll have to fight it out.
I am going to wake up every morning and check to see who won my hand for the day. And I'll be a very good, loyal girlfriend. For the day.
Totally. Do no choose. That would be like saying I will only live on the water and never go on land or soar into the skies. Or only eat fruit and never eat veg. Or saying you will only write for stage and nothing more. Or you only make wheel thrown works.
ReplyDeleteYou go ahead and call yourself an artist. When people ask what type of art do you make, then you can tell them you court many fields but the ones you preform the most are the arts of clay and the written word.
Plus you are a woman so you can be any-thing and all that you are and want to be.
Thank you, Helen, for the affirmation!! Maybe calling myself an artist is the way to go - covers all my bases!! :))
ReplyDelete:) coming here from your 'Delft, Reconstructed' piece, I NEED to smile, because with your work as a potter, you tell stories, too :) I think art is about telling stories in a sense - whether it's in clay, in image or in words. Stories of your life, of lives imagined, of being human and the mess and beauty of it all. I think you have chosen - chosen to tell your stories through whatever you lay your hands on, and it's beautiful. As I see it, you have ONE lover: your Muse. And he/she sends you wherever your hands and tools can accomplish most, in any given day :) Just two cents to ponder :) x!
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