So what lessons are we learning from doing these yunomi?… just relax and play. Don’t accept the first thing that works and run with that. Find the edges of what doesn’t work and move to adjust. Violate your aesthetics. Question your expectations. Trust your ability to experience a process. Steer towards results rather than imposing ideals.
Once again, I’ve managed to trip into making a series of work that, while I enjoy making what’s being made, I don’t currently possess the ability to understand what’s being done… or whether this series is worth making. It’s all too easy to imagine something into being, but it’s more of a challenge to imaging people choosing to pick up the work with appreciative hands.
I’m still playing with the yunomi that Jess made for me a few days ago. The single feature that I adore with her work is the way she creates her foot. They are free hand cut. The confidence shows in the stacked furrows, each the result of a single turned cut. Three cuts total. Gorgeous. Trying to let the work be itself without attempting to be over controlling… steering towards results rather than imposing ideals.
Zygote Blum 