I have been making plates, bowls, and cups for Omen Restaurant in New York City since 1983. This spring as I work I am looking back over favorite forms, surfaces, and patterns. It is challenging to revisit earlier ideas to reinvent inspiration and form. Today I have been looking at my bowls inspired by the calligraphy of Shinagawa Tetszuan. His repeated interpretation of nothingness speaks of of a calm mind and an articulate brush. In the introduction to Tetszuan's book of calligraphy the Dalai Lama said, "It is in the context of a calm mind that we may say that even one careful stroke of a brush can speak and even a simple stone may hear." I search for the current season's version of a shallow bowl which is as fresh as a new sprout of asparagus.
"a silence like thunder"
--Vimalakirti
"a silence like thunder"--Vimalakirti
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