One of my recurring fears is that I keep trying to do the same thing over and over again when I am in search of a new answer. In my studio I repeat small tasks in the cycle of a firing. I continually have to clear surfaces, I wipe up my wheel even though it will soon get re-covered in slip and trimmings. When I am making pots there are so many complex variations in clay consistency, wheel speed, the touch of the hand, memory of the idea that it's impossible to make the same pot over again. Moving pots from the table to a shelf is a tactile moment that is full of reminders of form and heft and sensation that cannot be recorded in words.
"Albert Einstein famously proposed that doing the same thing over and over and expecting a
different outcome is the definition of insanity. Oh, really? I doubt
the professor ever did much around the house; if he had, he would have
known the opposite is true. Domestic life is all about doing things over
and over in the same way, with every hope and intention that you'll get
the same result, and knowing in your heart of hearts how easily you
could get a very different one.
"Albert Einstein famously proposed that doing the same thing over and over and expecting a
different outcome is the definition of insanity. Oh, really? I doubt
the professor ever did much around the house; if he had, he would have
known the opposite is true. Domestic life is all about doing things over
and over in the same way, with every hope and intention that you'll get
the same result, and knowing in your heart of hearts how easily you
could get a very different one.Family life is the heartland of the unknown, and it only takes a
moment for the plates to shatter, the crystal to crack, the bed to
become unmade; the landscape can become foreign terrain in an instant,
the familiar unrecognizable in a heartbeat. And if one is to be found
doing something so ordinary as setting the table or folding the linen,
it is only because such habits are nothing but an effort to establish
bedrock for the seismic changes that so easily can follow." --The drudgery of chores, and the comfort by Akiko Busch in The New York Times, May 18, 2008
oh catherine! you have touched upon the great movements in life; cleaning, moving, washing, and then doing it all over again. in the studio i call it 'pottery yoga'. in the home i call it 'practice'. thank you once again for sharing your your work, your thoughts, your inner journey and your process in all things. cheers and fond regards, trew