Thanks so much @ashwinibhat and @thestudiopotter for highlighting this article I wrote several years ago about grief, ceramics and failure. The article is free to read this week at the studio potter website. # # .. We asked our board members to identify an article from the Studio Potter archive that has resonated with them as part of our birthday celebrations this week. Jonathan Kaplan, vice present for SP, sent us some pointers toward an article he loved. Unable to find the exact article in our archives, I called him this morning asking for some additional help. Within the next 20 minutes, Jonathan promptly called me back with the issue from Summer Fall 2011 , telling me how the article had a profound effect on him, leaving him in tears. I went into page 40 of this specific issue and now it was my time to tear up. The article Jonathan mentioned was written by my dear friend Vince Montague. Vince wrote this article, remembering his wife Julia, a fantastic potter herself, after her untimely death. He writes, “And I guess what I’ve learned in my grief is that failure bestows a certain fearlessness if one surrenders to the idea of unpredictability…” . . I have spent time firing a wood kiln with Vince talking about our mutual love for poetry and California. I know Vince continues to make amazing work , continues to support artists and kiln projects and has set up amazing fellowship opportunities in Julia’s name. I am reading this article today in a new light , while grieving for Ruth Bader Ginsburg, grieving for the threats against our democracy. Julia Terr and RBG paved the way for so many younger women, including me. I guess I am going back to the studio, back to clay, believing that change is still possible, and there is still hope when we don’t give-up —Ashwini Bhat for SP . . REMEMBER the September articles are FREE for everyone to read this week, September 13th through September 20th . . #ceramicsstudio #studiopottery #studiopotterjournal #potterystudiolife #ceramicartsstudio #ceramicsarts #claylife #handmadeartist #claystories #clayartstories #finecraft #ceramics #artistlife #artisticprocess #ceramicart #ceramiclife #contemporarycraft #ceramicsmagazine #cera https://www.instagram.com/p/CFVdbvDDKyy/?igshid=1o7ttixd7zipq
