THE INNER LIFE

MORNING MEDITATION BOWL

Some words of wisdom from poet and potter M.C.Richards...

"The artistic experience is central to the human being, because it is an affirmation of his inner life: an externalising of the inner man in ways that are not basically rational though they are coherent and organic. An affirmation of the nonverbal sources of our awareness and our feelings..."

It seems to me, very often, in the 21st Century that we, the makers, have lost the plot. There is an extraordinary emphasis on the external trimmings, the marketing, of the artefact. All at the expense of the inner meaning and content. And perhaps this is why so many craft projects fail, are not sustainable, because the development of passion and the search for meaning in creating is totally disregarded in favour of the outer fanfare. For me, the ongoing challenge is finding the middle road, a balance of outer form and inner life.