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Another way is to change perspectives … that can be by hiding one’s pieces and then after a couple months „rediscover“ them. Or by experiencing one’s work through someone else’s eyes, like with this photograph. Shout out to the amazingly talented @ayamurakoso for shooting these pictures.
There is some irony in here too … I wanted to show you a simple vessel to motivate others to start their creative journey, but her way of presenting my work makes it look like a masterpiece already.

Anyway, the second reason I wanted to share this with you is because it bears a prayer of sorts. When finished throwing the vessel on the potter’s wheel we had to put some marker on it so that the teacher identify it later on. It’s not visible on these images but I chose the marker „create“ as a reminder to myself. A seed so to speak, to bloom inside my heart.

Now, 5 years later that promise to myself came true and I feel more and more of an urge to center myself around the act of creation and the deep desire to share it with others. At least so it seems right now…

#2 Stepping out of the Shadow

After years of practicing my craft in a hidden and closed environment - it’s time to step out of the shadows. That step is a big one to me, because it comes with a lot of fears. Art comes from the soul and is a very intimate thing, thus sharing my work openly becomes a dreadful challenge. What if people reject it..? What if I’m unworthy..? Yet, I can also sense a deep desire to be fully seen, so I must act.

Growing up, I’ve learned to hide myself well. My nature was often considered odd, my sensitivity seemed liked weakness, and my fullest expression as “too much”. Yet that protective layer doesn’t serve me anymore… like a scorpions shell, I have to release something that once was essential to my being.

One way of doing this is to give others my business card, some of these you can see in these images. A clay business card conveys something… that my work is extraordinary, singular and meant to last. Frankly put, to even type that makes my stomach cramp … yet this also shows me that something of value is hidden behind that veil of shame and fear.

The first step is always the hardest, and so I shall take it: Where my work originates from … words don’t suffice … thus I create. I posses a connection to something otherworldly. That realm is like a second home, distant to most, but an elemental part of my life’s experience…

#3 Playing is not a skill in modern economies…

The act of creation is - in a sense - a sort of quiet rebellion to modern times. To create is to play, to not plan ahead, like a leaf on a river I follow my intuition and allow to be lead. It is an act of reverence. I am merely the hands that shape form.

Some years ago during my stay in Japan I was fortunate to meet an old weaver, a lady of 90 some years, a master in her own sphere. For over 80 years - starting as a young child and born into of a family of weavers - she practiced her craft and boy was she good at it.

Friends who acted as translators helped me to ask her some questions. One of which was “If you do one thing for such a long time, what is different?” Still to this day her answer gives me the chills. She said something akin to „(When weaving…) at some point I merely watch my hands, but I don’t feel like it’s me working, it’s Kamisama (神様 jap. -> god/deity/spirit) working through my hands.”

I couldn’t fathom how that single line would shape me, for in that moment it was one of many interesting stories from a time well spent. Yet when I found my way to ceramics I remembered that old lady, sitting fragile but upright in her old house, us young souls gathered around her like roamers around a campfire. I realized this is the Way of Creation I want to strive after.

So much of modern living is about efficiency, goal-setting … ultimately an effort of controlling outcomes and thus an act centred around fear. To follow one’s heart, to let go of control and to be the vessel for what life wants to shape, that on the other hand is something that seems most natural and reasonable to me.

Just like the necklace on these images, when I create I am in motion. It’s often a confusing process, and I never quite know where I’m going. At times I want to diabolize it, for I never quite know where I am or where I’m going, but at other times I’m glad the process is like that. For what fun would be there in knowing the outcome of a game?

#4 In another life I might’ve become a jeweler…

Doing these was so much fun, they reminded me of a time when - as a child - I did a lot of necklaces and bracelets out of beads and mother-of-pearl. They adorned the women in my family as well as their friends.

Now years later I did a quick trip back to jewelry by making with these amulets. Each is a little portal to that seemingly distant place that the soul calls home. With much of my work being decorative these pieces are made to use and quite literally carry into the world. The contrast of the clay vs. the glass texture is not only visually striking but gives it the feel of a “Handschmeichler” (ger. -> flattering/pleasing the hand). The band is made of black cotton and the length is adjustable… I’m thinking about putting these into the next drop… but I don’t know yet.

y hands move naturally, my mind is still and for the duration of the Act of Creation I instinctively know what to do next. Over the course of this stage the emerging gets pulled from imagination into form.

Finally: the Landing. The unseen phase and the one where darkness enters my world. This one is characterized by sadness and a sense of loss. After all, a piece of my soul got bound into form and it now exits beyond my own. One could compare this to the grief of loosing something or someone dear. The greater the importance, the greater the soul’s pain. This is a crucial part of The Way. For inner emptiness is the groundwork for a new rising. To invite this kind of pain into one’s life seems mad from the rational perspective, yet to me it’s the most natural thing to do.

After all, this is what nature does. Why should man act any different?

#1 A Journey must start somewhere…

Voila! This is my first ceramic piece. This was done at a pottery class in Japan, to be more precise in the town of Shigaraki, one of the ancient Japanese kiln sites.

It was important to me to share this with you, because of two things. First: It shows my humble beginnings.

Now with 3 years under my belt I’m feeling increasingly proud of my work, but that hasn’t been the case for most of my journey. It’s hard to appreciate one’s work when there is nothing to compare it to. Also my self-worth was (lim x→0​) for a long long time.

As an artist I tend to focus on the flaws, as my brain is naturally wired for future possibilities. Though this gives me the motivational kick to start creating new things it can also be really depressing to not be able to see the beauty in my own work.
One way to cope with this is to learn to accept oneself, and thus one’s work. We are all an amalgam of beauty and flaw, and ceramics to me represents that tension so vividly.

#5 Our minds easily trick us, nature is a good teacher…

The Act of Creation is one fickle path to take. Most of it is done letting the mind drift and the heart roam, sometimes far sometimes close but always away from the studio…

It all starts with collecting inspiration, a passive process of following one’s curiosity. An image of bare trees in the winter, or the pale skin of a young lady. When the soul gets touched in this way, it is an indescribably subtle but profound experience.
It’s like a nudge from a lover whose face you’ve never seen.

Once my inner world is full of inspiration I can sense the Phase of Overflow getting closer and I know now must act quickly. Once I get into the studio, the world ceases to exist, only I am present … or it might be that I cease to exist and only the world is present … or maybe in that moment we simply become one.