THE EMPTINESS HOLDS WHATEVER WE WANT

Inspired by the textured surfaces of some of the work of Kim Sacks (see my blog post on our group show) Kazuhiro Katase, Takayama Dai I have been experimenting with textures on the outside of glazed bowls so that they will still be utilitarian, and then, inspired by Lao Tzu (570-490 BC), this poem...

“We join spokes together in a wheel,
but it is the center hole
that makes the wagon move.

We shape clay into a pot,
but it is the emptiness inside
that holds whatever we want.

We hammer wood for a house,
but it is the inner space
that makes it livable.

We work with being,
but non-being is what we use.”

STUDIO LIFE CONTINUES...

NEW EARTHENWARE HANDBUILT CUP

MY ASSISTANT SANDILE WORKING ON A NEW RANGE OF CUPS WHICH WE ARE DEVELOPING

“Clay is molded to form a cup, But it is on its non-being that the utility of the cup depends. Doors and windows are cut out to make a room, But it is on its non-being that the utility of the room depends. Therefore turn being into advantage, and turn non-being into utility.”

Lao Tzu