…My greatest personal struggle, however, has been to come to terms with the fact that I left the active struggle for social justice to make pots and dishes for the privileged, adding more clutter to the cosmic dump. Look at the mess we are in: wars in two foreign lands and on terror; an economy in shambles; millions are losing their jobs, homes, and health care. Corporate giants control the Congress. The fragile planet that we so eagerly exploit shows signs of imminent demise. And here we are playing in the mud. Why do we make pots? Do we serve any useful social function? Is it merely self-indulgence? Are we just fiddling while Rome burns? …I continue to grapple with this question as I continue to make pots. I can do no other, for this journey wasn’t so much a matter of choice as destiny. What we do with our lives, what we create with our hands, what we offer from our spirits may not end racism or stop injustice, but it helps keep the culture human. A friend just sent me a quote: Art cannot cure cancer, but art restores hope. This is what we have to offer, Hope! …I believe that unless our values, our culture, our very history are radically changed and rewritten, we will have no future at all. The resources of this planet will be depleted by ignorance and greed, unless first engulfed by some great war or explosion. As makers, we offer something essential to making the necessary shifts. We do serve the people, by creating objects that bring joy, moments of contemplation and reflection to those that use them. A respite is not the same as an escape. This journey is not ours. The road is a very long one, going back to the very start of human history. Clay was there from the beginning, before human history. From the Big Bang and the Primordial Ooze, earth was formed and fermented, as rocks became clay over eons of changes, weather, and erosion. What a precious material, formed so very slowly over the millennia, and what a huge responsibility we have to handle it with love and use it with care. …We assume that it is our energy and work, our vision and imagination that form the clay. But in reality, it is the clay that forms us, transforms us into the unexpected. It is the power and the possibility of the clay that seduces and sustains us. Let us take pride in the choice that each of us has made to work with clay, to give it all our knowledge and our skills, our energy and our insights, our intuition and our spirit. The important thing is to make good, honest work, personal work that comes from the heart, work that speaks your language, sings your song, and leaves your hand/heart print. It requires hard work and discipline, but most of all it requires love. Love of the material and of the process, love of the focus and discipline. Love of creating for the self and for others. We have been given a gift, a challenge, and a charge. We must keep working and doing our part to keep life human and the spirit alive. Our passion will inspire and lead us. May we not lose our voice, our song. May we remember the words of Martin King who said that our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter…" Malcolm Davis Closing Lecture: How Did I End Up here? NCECA Journal 2010
gummygunk
2087
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theartofmadeline
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