About three weeks ago, I was invited to be part of Supercharged Print Makers show ‘Weathering Climate Change’ at the Casket Arts Building. The opening reception was Thursday October 2 from 6 to 8 pm – as always at this place, it was vibrant, animated, and lots of connections among artists and visitors were made. Why am I posting this after it happened? Let me explain.
The piece that is in this show (pictured below) is titled ‘Hanging in there; holding on’. Basically until the day I installed it on its pedestal the evening before the show opening, I wasn’t sure whether it would be finished in time for the show. And it did get dicey! 
Keep reading if you want to hear all about this sculpture’s journey.
The making started out easy –  I felt inspired right away because of my idea to work the broken parts of a Blue Willow China cup into this piece. Bisque firing worked like a dream, but then, and this is a first, I actually flat out dropped the piece on our concrete driveway after taking it out of the Raku kiln. Not a good time!
I frantically gathered all the shards and threw them into the wood chips, to still give them the Raku look, and in the hopes I could actually put this piece back together. And what do you know – it worked!
I love this piece so much. It expresses all the things I’m feeling and experiencing right now, and I actually think that the broken/fixed look really matches what I’m going for – our imperfect, brave attempts to come to grips, and hold ourselves together in a world where so much of what we love and care for is under attack. It felt immensely cathartic to put the finishing touches on this piece.
I received much positive feedback for it during the show, and it sparked many conversations. I felt truly blessed being an artist that night!