Thursday 19 June 2014

Swirls Of Life


What would I do in life if money wasn’t an issue? I'm glad you asked! I would probably choose to be a ceramicist, a painter, a sculptor, a furniture designer, a goldsmith, a glass blower, a restorer, a writer... the list is probably endless. In this case, the question should be: "what would I do if money and time weren’t an issue". 

Working with clay has always been my biggest passion, but every now and then I have to do something else. Last time I took a break from pottery was a few years ago when I started my college studies of German Literature and Language and the History of Arts. Even though I enjoyed studying again immensely, I often wondered if I should be more focused on doing one thing – ceramics. Since I have so many different interests, I am also curious if I can say that ceramics is truly my calling.

Just because a person is talented in doing ceramics it doesn’t mean that ceramics is their calling. What if one has a calling for something that one doesn’t have talent for (which makes the whole thing even more difficult of course)? It is not my intention to start an existential discussion about the meaning of life. However, there are some questions that are bothering me a lot lately. How do you know that you are doing the right thing, have the right job or the right partner? Is this life giving us a chance to do something we are good at? Are we actually using our innate potential to do so? 

I think the answer is quite simple. We owe ourselves to be happy. We owe ourselves to grow. We owe ourselves to do what we love. So I have decided that, as long as I have a chance to be creative and to work with my hands, I can call myself a lucky and a happy person. I don’t know if ceramics is my calling but creativity certainly is.