Sean Burns on sun 4 mar 12
Hi All,
The talk of tea culture has reminded me of when I had no clue of what=
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tea=3D20
culture was about-=3D20
I was taking a week long course in marble sculpting at the Vermont=3D20=
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Sculpture Center in West Rutland- and wound up staying at a house owned b=
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y=3D20
a Japanese American who is also an Ikibana practitioner having studied wi=
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th a=3D20
master in Japan. I told her I taught ceramics at the high school I still =
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work at-=3D20
and she seemed interested in my work with the students. The next morning=3D=
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she presented an important teabowl a friend had given her after a study s=
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tint=3D20
with a master from Japan- I inspected the bowl and found it interesting b=
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ut=3D20
too plain- and proceded to push it across to table towards her- the gasp =
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as it=3D20
carelessly careened across the table seemed excessive to me at the time=3D2=
0=3D
though I realized I did something wrong.=3D20
A couple years later when I starting investigating tea ware I found ou=
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t the=3D20
extent of my gaffe- and several others I might add. Talk about instant=3D20=
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humility-=3D20
As a thank you for her hospitality I sent her a small stoneware vase w=
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ith=3D20
stopper- but the stopper arrived broken- she said she would use it for he=
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r=3D20
Ikebana- Looking back on that week I spent studying stone- I learned more=
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about respect and politeness than working rock- and I learned alot about=3D=
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working rock.
regar=
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ds-
Sean =
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Burns
Willi=
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amsburg, Ma.
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