Thinking things over.

    On tuesday I was told in class that I needed to quit thinking horizontally, and start thinking vertically. I, as usual, I had gotten excited about several different processes I wanted to try, and would have spread myself rather thin. Since then I have been thinking about my work, trying to pick out why I make my work the way I do. What is pulling me? I think I have found some answers.

    Back in Utah before I even got into ceramics, I was a photography major, and never thought twice about clay. Even then however, I had similar motivations, even if I didn't know it. I learned to use digital photography, photoshop, etc, and while I enjoyed the convenience, I didn't like the insubstantial/intangible feeling of these things. It still bothers me to work hard on something only to "turn it in" by plugging in a small jump drive. I think this is what led me to some of the older photo processes such as carbon transfers, and eventually led me to ceramics.

    I don't like the world as it is/is becoming. I'm not the biggest fan of all the "instant gratification." Oh, I'll make use of plenty of it, it is convenient (though I will never use twitter), but I don't like that everything happens so fast, and then is gone faster than it happened. It seems that information is spread about and gone before anyone has taken the time to truly digest it. So this is something that I have picked out about myself and my work... substance.

    I make objects. I want them to be substantial objects, and to hold significance, or the feel thereof. I want them to be anchors, reminding people that the are things of importance and power underneath all of the flightiness that is our society. The best way I can describe the feel I want is monolithic. I believe this to be a "vertical" step for me, and am getting excited about making some work.