Adventures Upcoming

These two items are very precious, and they have something in common.

Vienna.

The Venus of Willendorf is something I have admired for much of my life. This small clay sculpture is 30,000 years old. That is 1500 generations worth of the passage of time. One thousand five hundred incarnations of lifetimes have passed since she was molded by hand by someone in the Austrian Alps, which also happens to be where my own very ancient ancestors are probably from. The original is made from a piece of limestone that was tinted with red ochre, and is considered to be a Mother Goddess. It is one of the first human representations known to art history, and is now housed in the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien.

The particular clay version you see in this picture was handed to me by a stranger at a Women's Art festival, with the words:  "I think this should be yours." With no more explanation, I accepted this gift and she has hung above my desk ever since, a reminder of the mystery and the deep connection we have to ancestors, women, hunter-gatherers, humans that came before any recorded time. 

The next object, in some ways, has actually an even more mysterious and unsolvable provenance. My aunt Evie told me many years ago that her mother, my Grandmother, spent her first honeymoon in Vienna. As a young woman, my grandmother was a remarkable person. At age 13 she took an ocean liner alone (steerage class, of course) from the small village of Viznitz in what is now Ukraine, alone, to emigrate to the US. The ship hit an iceberg and sank, she waited 6 weeks in Nova Scotia to get her papers in order, then ended up at Ellis Island. Many mishaps later at the age of 18, she met and married a talented musician and composer, Joseph Peyser, who was affluent enough to take her to Vienna to hear music and enjoy their newly married bliss. This solid sterling silver purse was a wedding present he gave her. She must have felt on top of the world, and that all her troubles were finally over. 

However, her newly wedded bliss was not to last, and we know very little more of this story, because one short year later, back in Brooklyn, her new husband and a newly born infant perished in the influenza epidemic of 1918. Suddenly, she was a 19 year old widow with a one year old baby, my Aunt Evie. She want on to marry Joseph's younger brother, Adolf, and years later had my mom and my uncle George. And she never talked more of the tragedies of her early life.

Ever since my Aunt Evie told me this, I wanted to go to Vienna, to wander the streets, to go to concert venues to hear the classical music she and Joseph probably enjoyed. My grandmother, a poor immigrant who barely could read or write English got to peruse the magnificent concert venues of Vienna with this precious pure silver evening purse, only to have this glamorous life ripped away in one short year.

I have always viewed a trip to Vienna as a pilgrimage to honor her.

AND it turns out the precious Venus of Willendorf is also living now  in Vienna. And the original stone it was carved from is believed to be from eastern Ukraine, exactly where my grandmother started her life before coming to the US.

So, this March, I will go on a pilgrimage. Luckily, my niece Laurel has started an academic job there, so I have someone with whom I can experience some of the wonders of Vienna, in memory of the Venus of 30,000 years ago, and Bella Peyser, of 108 years ago.

 

Art Journaling

I have been listening to the very inspiring book, "We Need Your Art" by Amie McNee. It is a manifesto in how to get your creative flow going without needing approval from the world. She talks about the gate-keepers of art, the way we are discouraged from personal expression unless it produces money or prestige. No one expects you to be a professional tennis player if your hobby is tennis, yet anyone whose hobby is in the creative arts is asked if they sell their work. If you write for fun, you are asked if you have published. If you paint you are asked if your work sells in a gallery. It's as if you need permission to make art, and the permission isn't given easily.

I love her lists of reasons that making art not only saves the maker, but saves the world. I love that when we create, we not only heal ourselves, but give healing to all who witness, are inspired by, or engage with us as creative beings.

I am once again using my art journaling time as a spiritual practice. Since starting ceramics a few years ago, I let my art journaling work slide to the wayside, and it's wonderful to get back into sitting with art journal pages, adding words and watercolor and stickers and decoration, simply to be in a creative flow. Making a product is not the goal; spending time in creative joy is the goal. These pages will only see the light of day here in this blog, they are not created to be in the commerce world, they are designed to be my personal expression of flow and healing in my own creative space.

These pages are not masterpieces or even finished works, they will never sell or be part of anything commercial; but they do give me the joy of being in the creative process. We are entitled to make things just for fun, just for pleasure, just for the freedom of expression. And the beauty is that the act of creation is so healing, so soothing, so uplifting.

Go attend to your mental health by creating something. I give you permission.

Ceramics!

I first took a ceramics class at about age 9 at our Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Bethesda, Maryland. I was entranced with the earthy and messy reality of molding and shaping the clay, and felt like this was the best few hours I had ever spent. I remember making a plaque in clay of the sun and the moon, a bas relief in many colors. I loved that wall hanging, and my mom had it in her house for decades.

But I was only allowed to take the class once, so many other kids were waiting. So I did not get to handle clay for about 5 decades. I tried again once in my 30's at Glen Echo, but with the pressure of 3 kids and many community obligations, I didn't follow up. It was just not the right time.

My creative career chugged along with teaching, art journaling, making art and having some shows, and publishing some books. But nothing felt like the perfect path, so I finally landing on other ways to earn a living with a hodge podge of odd jobs, including book design, tech support, scheduling for a therapy practice, cataloging wildlife, teaching ESL to Chinese students, and even a very long week working as a boy scout leader for inner city kids. My collage work and painting and mixed media was a fulfilling outlet for my creativity, but there was always a sense I needed to achieve, to create fame and fortune from this creative work. I often felt depressed about my lack of sales or achievement. I even got signed with an art agent, that to this day, has had about two licensing sales for me.

Finally, a few years ago, here in Colorado, I had the space in my life to return to ceramics, and I signed up for the Ceramics class at Golden Community Center, where I received excellent instruction form Chris Murphy.  Oh the joy! This was definitely following my bliss.

I sometimes wonder how my life might have been different if I had found ceramics sooner. Neither my high school or the three institutions of higher education I attended offered ceramics classes. 

So finally here I am, at age 63, so totally in the flow of enjoyment of creation that I think I found my calling. When I am at the wheel throwing, or trimming, or at my desk decorating or glazing, time stops, I am in the flow, and even the mishaps and mistakes and misfortunes that accompany ceramics don't deter me.

I have a little pottery shed that I love, and being out there is the best part of my day.

I don't expect to make money doing this, I don't expect fame or accolades. I just know I can spend the last few decades of my creative life doing this thing that fills me with joy.

I wish for everyone this in life: to find the thing that brings you bliss, to follow it with focus and dedication, and to share this joy with others.

What a blessing to have finally landed in a creative endeavor that feels so right, without the pressure to sell or achieve.

 

2025 - Happy Mother's Day!

First post of the year, and it's already one day past Mother's Day!

Crazy politics in the land, and since my husband, one daughter, and two brothers are federal employees, it's been a hand wringer. So far, all is well with those in my sphere. Here is my husband with his newly installed "bionic" shoulder!

I am learning to move my focus to Joy and revelry in Nature whenever this world seems like it's just too much. My Spirit helpers really do support this, and I find it also helps to pay attention to the vibration of those around me, and focus on loving connection in real life, not all the virtual stuff. Real bodies, real nature, real work with my hands, back to basics. Clay. Paint. Pencils. Paper. 

I wish you all joy and peace and to be surrounded by loving energies, inward and outwardly. May all your dreams lead you to joy and fulfillment.