Lily Krakowski on tue 28 jan 03
Question One: Why should you love it?
The original inquiry has been on my mind since I read it. It reminded me
painfully of too many mothers I know. Here I carried this baby, gave birth
to it, bore it, raised, sacrificed for it (all equivalent of the work
process) and then I sent if off into the world (or the foundry) and it came
back--and it is a stranger!! Oh what happened to my adorable baby? Oy, what
have "they" done to him???
As many will tell you, one of the wonders of creative work is that it takes
over after a while. I start with a lump of clay over which I have full
dictatorial control, and as time goes on, (wedging, throwing, trimming, etc)
it escapes me. By the time I have a finished pot--it is its own...
If you need to love the finished product, then you have expectations of an
inanimate object that it cannot possibly satisfy. When I clean my house I
expect a clean house; I expect finally to locate that blue sock, finally to
see the pattern in the linoleum--I expect satisfaction from the goal
achieved--but I certainly do not expect to love.
I do not want to sound cruel and detached. I just think that if you expect
to love your final products, otherwise they are like food that poisoned you
and has been thrown up--- you are in trouble. You are establishing a
relationship with your work that is unhealthy (I think). Learn to love your
working process; rejoice in your ideas; wallow in the making of things;
laugh at your mistakes. Then let it go.....
Famous Brazilian priest of 18th(?) century was also a poet. He wrote his
verses on the beach and then watched the tide wash them off.....A lesson in
letting go.
Lili Krakowski
P.O. Box #1
Constableville, N.Y.
(315) 942-5916/ 397-2389
Be of good courage....
Dannon Rhudy on tue 28 jan 03
Lily said:
> If you need to love the finished product, then you have expectations of an
> inanimate object that it cannot possibly satisfy. ......-
> I do not want to sound cruel and detached. I just think that if you
expect
> to love your final products.....you are in trouble
..... rejoice in your ideas..... Then let it go........>
Lily's words are wise indeed. Work itself is often - perhaps always -
the only panacea. We may or may not be pleased with end results,
but finding those results is an interior journey. That journey may be
difficult,
it may be delicious, it may be any number of things including therapy.
What comes from our minds through our hands is thought/idea
made manifest. We would be foolish to expect to like every
single thing we've wrought. All our work is transitional, and all our
work is a self-portrait. But only for that time, that piece, that
effort and execution, that day. The next will be it's own self,
all over again.
It seems to me there are two solutions for hating one's
work: stop making it, or make more of it. Each of us chooses.
regards
Dannon Rhudy
Mildred Herot on tue 28 jan 03
Hi Lily: I must say I enjoy reading your comments and think you are one
smart lady. Maybe I say this because I agree with you whole heartedly that
it is the process you must love and the result is just a by product. I once
read about a tribe in
Africa who (at special times) built a mud house and completely filled it
with mud sculpture and, when finished, abandoned it because they had
fulfilled their mission....Thanks again for your various insights....Mildred
Herot
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lily Krakowski"
To:
Sent: Tuesday, January 28, 2003 8:36 AM
Subject: hating your work
> Question One: Why should you love it?
>
> The original inquiry has been on my mind since I read it. It reminded me
> painfully of too many mothers I know. Here I carried this baby, gave
birth
> to it, bore it, raised, sacrificed for it (all equivalent of the work
> process) and then I sent if off into the world (or the foundry) and it
came
> back--and it is a stranger!! Oh what happened to my adorable baby? Oy,
what
> have "they" done to him???
>
> As many will tell you, one of the wonders of creative work is that it
takes
> over after a while. I start with a lump of clay over which I have full
> dictatorial control, and as time goes on, (wedging, throwing, trimming,
etc)
> it escapes me. By the time I have a finished pot--it is its own...
>
> If you need to love the finished product, then you have expectations of an
> inanimate object that it cannot possibly satisfy. When I clean my house I
> expect a clean house; I expect finally to locate that blue sock, finally
to
> see the pattern in the linoleum--I expect satisfaction from the goal
> achieved--but I certainly do not expect to love.
>
> I do not want to sound cruel and detached. I just think that if you
expect
> to love your final products, otherwise they are like food that poisoned
you
> and has been thrown up--- you are in trouble. You are establishing a
> relationship with your work that is unhealthy (I think). Learn to love
your
> working process; rejoice in your ideas; wallow in the making of things;
> laugh at your mistakes. Then let it go.....
>
> Famous Brazilian priest of 18th(?) century was also a poet. He wrote his
> verses on the beach and then watched the tide wash them off.....A lesson
in
> letting go.
>
>
>
>
> Lili Krakowski
> P.O. Box #1
> Constableville, N.Y.
> (315) 942-5916/ 397-2389
>
> Be of good courage....
>
>
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