work
i’m not usually one to romanticize (manual) work (labor) in my art practice, but the process of building the clay oven for fare il pane a bologna has been really enjoyable. you can see some photos of the work here. not that i am opposed to doing the work necessary to realize a project, but it hadn’t been a defining feature of my work for some time. i am just as happy focusing on idea, and/or collaborating with others in the realization of an idea, but not needing to get my hands “dirty” to feel that i have “made” something.
i remember spending some time in graduate school joking with a friend in the ceramics department about how unfortunate it must be to be in a material based program. and now, the two major post grad school projects that i have worked on have involved hard work, construction, and surprisingly both involved a fair amount of clay. not sure if there is a thesis to this post, other then that perhaps after graduate school and without major institutional support (college loans) one finds that in order to get anything done, you have to do it yourself… so thanks again to chris robbins for reminding me that it’s okay to make stuff.