When it gets dark outside and the kitchen is clean and my phone is in its little woven basket to charge for the night, I’ll pad to the bedroom with a mug of water and curl up with my pup, scratching his ears while I think back on my day.
Sometimes I’m full of gratitude and sometimes I’m hard on myself for all the things I didn’t get to. There are some days when I can’t even figure out what I accomplished, where my time and attention went off to. How much time did I spend scrolling through my phone? How many ads did my thoughts get swept up into - on social media, on podcasts, on every website I visited that day?
The internet is captivating. It’s connected me with incredible humans and has quite literally changed my life and career. And I spend too much time with my face staring into glowing screens. I feel pangs of nostalgia for simpler times before the attention economy grew unwieldy.
These days, my pottery studio is where I feel most grounded, where my attention is mine alone. Screens get left behind and tucked away, my hands are muddy after all. For hours on end, my eyes are focused on shaping the earth in front of me into soft, functional pieces to share with others. Pieces that will hopefully inspire the same grounding presence I find while making them.
Mugs to sip wine from with a friend in the park on a summery Wednesday evening. Vases to arrange bodega flowers while spacing out after a day of too many meetings, eyes lost in the mesmerizing pattern of chrysanthemum petals. Match holders to light a candle and unwind at the end of a work day. Planters to get your own hands dirty with earth and grow something alive and beautiful.
May the pottery in your home remind you that your attention is yours. May it inspire you to create time to step away from screens and into the park with a friend, a mesmerizing flower arrangement, a glowing candle, a dirty afternoon of plant potting.
I’m patiently waiting for Marlee Grace’s zine to arrive in the mail and give me all the comfort and thoughts on living life offline.
The Happy Wanderers in this beautiful project warm my heart.
This fashion designer described my local park as “a little vacation” <3
And a little corner of my home studio with words from Sister Corita Kent:
thank you, thank you for being here xx