Garden

“Garden”

One my latest wall-hangings, made of porcelain. When I first started working on this piece it was the middle of winter and I was looking forward to spring. I originally had the quote “Bloom Where You are Planted” in mind for the message. But as I was working on this piece I battled the flue and a severe cold. This made it quite a struggle to finish the piece for the show I was originally wanting to put it in. But with many pieces that end up in my studio for longer than the time intended it began to take on new color schemes and meanings. New life experiences happen in my life during the creation of my artwork and these things tend to change the direction of my life and my work.

When I originally sculpted this, I created a large flower blooming out of thorny branches and darkness, and as it bloomed it pushed the negativity and struggles down and gave new life to the rest of the piece and new flowers were able to bloom and spread. But in my life when I was working on this piece, like I mentioned I battled being sick. But I also was witness to some personally disturbing behavior from a few people in my community.

I have spent a lot of my life volunteering, and I absolutely love doing so. Growing up I had strong mentors that volunteered some were family members, others were people in the community or family friends. These people taught me how to spread seeds of happiness and how to enjoy watching goodness spread. This is why I volunteer, I have seen what can happen when someone selflessly shares their time with others and the positivity it can bring.

But this winter and spring I saw a bad side of volunteering. A side where some are volunteering for shellfish reasons, and are being greedy and negative with the help that has been given and with progress being made in our community. I saw a few people who I have grown up knowing behave so selfishly, negatively, and absolutely ugly. This, for a moment, shattered my vision of giving. They made me feel as if everything I have spent so much time building up was not worth it. It was a very dark and frustrating time. So one by one I fulfilled each obligation, I said no to new obligations (which did not go over well, and I felt persecuted over) and I worked out all of these events, one by one, in my studio. And when I was finished I realized there is a circle in life and in a community. There will be change, and with change some people will go with it and others will not. But we all need to focus on what in important in our own personal lives. We shouldn’t be bullied by the loudest people, if our motives are positive, don’t hurt anyone, and are fulfilling we shouldn’t be told we are wrong we should work towards our goals and in the end hopefully we have planted seeds for others to come along with us.

So I had to change the quote to, “To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow”. I am blooming out of the struggles I have had in life and I am planting seeds of positivity, creativity, and helpfulness. I know that our community needs healing, and I think I can help in a creative way. Viewing art, and creating art is very therapeutic. I am building a space in our community where people of any economic level can come in and see new art, learn about it, and create it. For some this will bring an inner healing and peace, for others it will be a positive space for entertainment and community. And I can’t wait to see the next generation bloom at my space and create their own art, art programs, and galleries in our community!

To create this piece, I rolled out the clay and left the edges in an organic shape. I added texture and design to the piece through stamps, found objects, and drawing directly onto the clay surface. Then I cut the tile design, let it dry and refined each piece before firing it in the kiln. I then hand painted the piece using many layers of several forms of paint including inks. I sealed it and mounted it to a boxed wood surface with trim framing the piece for a finishing touch. The large flower is blooming boldly out of struggles and darkness, and because of it’s strength others are able to begin to grow and bloom, a new garden is created. The abstract colors and images in the top right corner are symbolic of seeds and future gardens.

#artwork #clay #inspirational #downtownshops