Meaning

This image is my kiln, too hot to unload yet, open this morning. New plates.

I operate from the premise that all art functions. It inspires, it questions, it teaches, and it can also serve a mundane purpose. The daily use of items in the home, created as works of art actually takes art to the next level. Conventional wisdom sees art as a seperate thing from life. Something so precious and valuable that it lives in museums, untouchable and beyond reproach. But, in fact, those are deadly assumptions. Living with art, using art, gives us all more to live for on a daily basis. Being inspired, moved and enlivened gives everyone a greater sense of meaning in our lives. Hugh MacLeod says there's an infinate market for meaning. Does that mean we will make a lot of money if we create meaningful work for a meaning starved audience? Maybe, but I don't think it is that simple. Meaning isn't something that can be created, packaged and sold by the billions. Meaning is built, one day at a time, by creative thoughtful people doing and producing meaningful work. I believe there are piles of people doing this. I like to call them artists because that word still has meaning for me. If everyone were to take heed and support the artists of the world, I think we stand a chance. If we buy the things made by the people we meet, our friends and neighbors, working in studios and workshops peppered across the countryside, be it in New Englad or New Zealand and all points in betweeen, that is how the revoltution (evolution?) will quietly take place.

We all have choices about how we live. The more deeply we understand how our choices affect ourselves and eachother, then a more a just world comes into focus.