My sister passed a couple of years ago. 4.24.24 would have been her 64th birthday. She wrote this many years ago.
Art is an all encompassing act of love. It starts with a love of materials, is fed by a love of beauty, and in its fruition, it is a gift of love to all mankind.
I have a deep love of clay. It has accepted and spurred my growth for many years. As I move between sculpture and function, I find my deep desire is to make objects that bring a grace and joy to the acts of daily living, vessels for eating and drinking, and storing.
But I am not satisfied to merely make objects, they must be expressions of Spirit. Though I take great joy in the act of creating and receiving of inspiration that comes from living and listening in the cycles of creation, I think my greatest joy is in the final act of giving, of sharing the manifestation with others. I love others by sharing my highest vision of myself and of being.
Teaching is an act of love, sharing a love of materials, communicating a sensitivity of vision. But teaching is not merely a matter of conveying technique, it is an exercise of spiritual vision, of seeing each individual as God’s man. Specifically, it means seeing the artist inherent in each man. If a sense of artistry is awakened in a student, a greater grace, then the art carries over into all the other aspects of life, dancing, cooking, praying.
The activity of art in all its aspects, creating, teaching, giving, becomes not really an act of making but of letting, letting the beauty of holiness shine through all that we are and do.