I’ve never been a fan of Picasso’s paintings, certainly not of his treatment of women, but I surprised myself by finding his ceramics utterly charming when I first encountered them in the Albertina in Vienna several years ago (where I took the picture of the goat dish above). They’re joyful, whimsical even, but paradoxically spareContinue reading “Ceramics Saturdays: Picasso”
Category Archives: crow
The Three Perfections
The redwing blackbirds are back in the wetland at the park near my house, and coincidentally, I found this tea painting I made while sorting through some old sketchbooks, so I thought I’d do a post on the Three Perfections. Song Dynasty scholars called the arts of painting, calligraphy, and poetry the “Three Perfections,” whichContinue reading “The Three Perfections”
Saturday Ceramics: Betsy Williams (Enbi Studio)
I met Betsy Williams on the High Road to Taos during the annual fall festival where artists put on two open-gallery weekends. She trained in Japan and is current researching wild clays. I love her work and have owned several pieces over the years (none currently; I tend to get pieces I can use inContinue reading “Saturday Ceramics: Betsy Williams (Enbi Studio)”
Pattern Matching
A good bit of what goes on in my brain is connecting something I’m currently seeing or otherwise sensing to a memory of a past experience, according to similarities or resonances between the two. So, tonight when I saw the sunset, the luminescent pink color reminded me of the pink shell in the Korean lacquerContinue reading “Pattern Matching”
Ceramics Saturdays: Modern Korean Ceramics
There is so much really interesting work going on in Korean ceramics today–young potters taking the clean, organic forms of tradition into experimental lines and colors. The incense burner pictured above is by my friend Jeewon (Mellanie) Jeong, an incredibly talented young ceramicist with a Master’s degree from Seoul National University and now her ownContinue reading “Ceramics Saturdays: Modern Korean Ceramics”
Birthday Festschrift: 40-50
Music fell off the wagon this decade; I’m hoping to get back to it as time allows. But I started doing papercuts, and I kept up with my fiction (mostly short stories). Art I started doing papercuts after I tried linocuts for a children’s book project that Malena and I worked on. I found IContinue reading “Birthday Festschrift: 40-50”
Christmas Snow
Birthday Festschrift: 30-40
I got more into art this decade and less into music; more into poetry and less into fiction. Story I wrote this based on a story my best friend told me about her childhood: of course, I significantly exaggerated and elaborated from there, as fiction writers are wont to do. It’s called “The Yellow Dress.”Continue reading “Birthday Festschrift: 30-40”
Hagiwara Tea Garden
This is one of my favorite spots in the world. Cradled at the heart of Golden Gate State Park in San Francisco, the garden’s story is as intensely bittersweet as the matcha served in its teahouse, with episodes of triumph, heartbreak, cruelty, and grace; you can read it here. The garden is gorgeous in everyContinue reading “Hagiwara Tea Garden”
Birthday Festschrift: 20-30
This was probably my most productive decade for creative stuff because it’s the last decade I wasn’t in academia (well, half the decade). It is a sad truth that there is only so much Creativity Juice in any one person, and even though it doesn’t seem like it, teaching freshmen how to write, reading theory,Continue reading “Birthday Festschrift: 20-30”
The Rookery 