Journey

To be open to the needs of growth: to ripen as clay ripens, through geology and the weathering of the storms. Ira ProGoff says ~ It is not a trip but a whole journey....

Just recently I got in touch with a childhood friend. We were together in middle school for a couple of years, then we met again (once) when I was in my first year of college (doing Agriculture Engineering), almost 25 years ago in India. I had no inkling then, or until a decade ago, that I would call myself a "Ceramic artist" one day. I feel there is beauty in mystery of tomorrow, not knowing yet being present in today. Inch by Inch we move further, not keeping track of time or space, that when we look back, hind sight seems like a dream.

After my son was born, my perspective shifted. For a decade I had worked in technology doing analysis and management, now the focus was a tiny being, his nurturing and care. We were in Texas then and I had started taking pottery classes, once a week class gradually moved to every day commitment. With time I started dreaming of a new possibility, away from corporate cold corridors.

Paulus Berensohn said "Finding one's way with clay is a technical question: in what way, i.e method do I want to work? It is also a question of style: How do I want the piece to look? And it is a spiritual question as well: How do I relate?" It takes time and consistency to find answers to these questions as clay gives you multitude of choices, I chose the ones that felt close to home. 

Places, culture, history, symbols, motifs, architecture, evolution, nature, colors, texture, books, beings, anything, can capture my attention, I allow my self to be drifted, as these influences always leave me with something ~ ideas, forms, impressions, sketches, designs or words. I do not strive for perfection, but to be in the flow, to be dictated by the moment and whatever that leads me to, I keep it as a gift. 

~Ruchi

May, 2020