In the spring of 2017, an old family friend that hadn’t heard from in a very long time had contacted me asking to see my work. A lot of years have gone by since anyone from my past has looked my way, I had completely forgotten how uncomfortable it could be, pushing my work forward to one of my elders and saying “I made this”. While in the larger world, the work that I make successfully finds its tribe, in the world that I was raised, my tribe doesn’t approve of much of anything that I do. Now while this may or may not be true, it’s the story that rings in my head, so for me, it’s feels true enough to shape how I view that past world.
Now this is a person that I respect immensely, but still, I asked for a delay, that I would show her something later. This wasn’t to blow her off, although that’s exactly what I did, it was a delay to effectively make something that I could put in front of her and not feel like she would disapprove.
A year later, I’m happy with what came out of the kilns. None the less, although the design that spun out of the studio landed well with my clients, I still haven’t set any of the results down in front of her. Disappointing my elders isn’t something I relish in any way. Still, I really should, just to thank her for motivating my hand in a new direction, even if that new direction is just for a passing moment.
Zygote Blum 