Week 7 - Ugh..

This will be another short blog. I’m sad as I think about this past week, because I wish I could’ve had more studio time. I want nothing more than to be in the studio now, starting a new batch of projects, but I have to work. I hope to have a nice studio night tomorrow after I get off. The bartending schedule is wack and unpredictable, and it doesn’t work with morning classes, that’s for sure.

I’ve been tested on so many fronts over the past seven days, and the tears have been flowing. I know I’m just at the trough of a wave, and I’m trusting in myself and the universe to carry me forwards. I am proud of myself for standing strong and getting through.

Anyways, I process so much of my hardships through clay, and as meditative as it can be, I’ve discovered that sculpting is a lot more difficult when I have heavy stuff to process. I found myself procrastinating a lot more than usual because as soon as I’d start sculpting all the hard emotions would surface again. Clay therapy.

All I did this week was finish the outsides and sculpt out the insides of these two small propriocepta and the larger one.

When flipping the larger one after carving out the inside, some parts broke apart. This was expected, because this one’s the widest I’ve ever tried. It was leather soft, so I’m hopeful that it’ll accept the repairs as it dries. But I didn’t think about how it spans two kiln shelves and how to move it into the kiln without breaking it. So a HUGE shoutout to GH for his ingenuity in transferring it onto the kiln shelves and the cart and coming up with a plan to lower it into the kiln. I literally don’t know what I would’ve done without his help, besides purchasing a solid circular kiln shelf for myself.

I wanted to push the limits of the connections and span of these sculptures, to see how wide I can go. But this might’ve been a stupid idea and could very likely show me that I should just stick to building a collective of smaller sculptures, or attaching parts post-firing. I feel like I already know the answer to this experiment.

Next week: back to the wheel and back to experimentation with sculptural, functional vessels!

thinking about:

Taking my time guiltlessly.

Letting the collective pulse (the sense of being a part of the universe and something greater) guide my body as I sculpt.

Letting my tears flow.

Finding strength in emotional vulnerability.

weekly gratitudes

~ Again, GH for his ingenuity and help!

~ Beautiful weather

~ Long distance friendships

~ My spider is preparing to molt!

artists on my mind

Shikha Joshi, Simon Levin, Hilma af Klint (random, but true)