Cultivating Creativity

Perception is a funny thing. It would be redundant to say that it's relative, yet we always have to remind ourselves of that. Wether it's in our aesthetic taste or how we perceive a situation or person, we are viewing information through a set of subjective lenses. Those lenses become filters, filters become rules, and then at some point those rules become so steadfast that we can't even see something that's plainly before us.

Take a tree, for example. When I say tree, a mental picture is conjured up and a sense of knowing bubbles up along with it. "Yes, tree, I know what that is." Do I really though? Or am I mistaking the word for the experience? What's the difference?

Fall along the mighty Mississippi River- photo by Wanaree Tanner

It's kind of like half watching a movie, yeah, I "watched" it, but did I notice all the subtle cinematic intricacies, secondary plot lines, or even the soundtrack? After all, someone orchestrated every shot and every movement to express a very specific idea or feeling.

In the same way, I only half watched the world around me. A tree was a tree, it had it's value, it had it's place, but the list of trees I actually knew was profoundly shorter than the list of movies I'd fully experienced. Learning to share their space, be observant, and not pass judgment reset my perception. An entire microcosm was revealed, with leading characters, struggles for life and death between numerous incects and animals, all playing out on the stage of a single tree.  It was then that I realized I could never really "know" a tree. I can experience it in a moment, list it's characteristics and qualities, but I can't be the tree. Claiming to "know" it automatically subjugates it to a severely inadequate label, and can turn a vibrant living being into a sterile litany of words.

What does this have to do with art or with inspiration? While beautifully spun words can be very inspiring, there is no replacement for the inspiration born of an experience free from preconceptions.

Which reminds me of a piece of advice sometimes given to to young authors: "Don't write anything at all until you've experienced something. Don't even write for the school paper. Until you've experienced something, there's nothing to write about." One might think this means we have to go get a motorbike and ride across the country or hop on box cars like bohemian hobos, which can create an experience free from preconceptions, but it can also happen while occupying the same space with a tree as an observer instead of as a knower.

Somewhere within that practice is jet fuel for creativity. At least for me, it's in being open, in being observant that the seeds for inspiration can germinate. All the words and chatter (both internal and external) about inspiration can place it on an unattainable pedestal. Obsessing over finding it, harnessing it, marketing it, defining it, capturing it, when it's readily available all around us for the low, low price of being open and aware. It's not something someone can give or sell to you, it's there waiting for you.

The pursuit and perpetual searching can transform into an active living flow, with moods and seasons that tolerate no expectations. When it's allowed to be and arrive at will, it gives birth to the the clarity that noting man creates can ever match the wonder of what already is. Surprisingly, this takes the pressure off. You can simply become a contributor to the creation that is already happening all around us all of the time. Create and be at peace.

Sincerely,
Wanaree

MetalClay Arts Conservatory

I'm pleased to introduce the first in the series of online classes from The MetalClay Arts Conservatory. This new cutting-edge format has given me a platform to include all the skills and techniques I've developed throughout my career.

Sincerely,
Wanaree

www.metalclayartsconservatory.com

CLICK HERE TO ENROLL

CLICK HERE TO ENROLL

"Kinetic Bell Pendant" Fully articulated and musical, this project emphasizes dimensional design in metal clay, walking you though not only the clay process but how to design dimensionally as well.

Learn how to create a piece that's your own all the way from texture to patina.

Incorporating kinetic elements into metal clay: a fully articulated bell stem and swing bail.

Introduction ot kinetic connection in metal clay
with "Kinetic Earrings"

Learn to create your own unique designs.

"Let Your Work Become Music to the Ears"

An example of project possibilities from this Comprehensive Course. The Ringing Kinetic Bell Pendant and Kinetic Earrings combined with additional Bell Shaped Beads, custom clasp, and repurposed antique turquoise stone rondells. 

New Website Address!

Hey Folks! Due extenuating circumstances my previous website is no longer viable. All the same content is now located at my new address:

www.artbywanaree.com

More blog posts coming soon, I've got some exciting new projects and classes on the way. Thanks so much for your continued support!

"Gate At The Garden of the Gods" (4PAM_16)

My parents live in Thailand, which means once every couple of years I get to go visit, and they're always gracious enough to drive me all over the countryside to ogle all the temples, markets, and sites. Last year my in-laws guided us up north to a beautiful sculpture garden call "The Garden of the Gods." Sculpture garden is a bit of an understatement as many of the sculptures were the size of buildings. I know I'm a lucky duck, a place like this could inspire a thousand pieces, yet I remained a bit oblivious to the potential there.

 A few month ago I joined a Facebook page hosted by Catherine Witherell called Texture Tuesdays. EveryTuesday, people will post photos based on a theme Catherine so cleverly devises. The theme that week was doorways, and I posted a gate that lead to the central shrine at "The Garden of the Gods." Fortunately for me, it caught Gorden Uyehara's attention, and he quite innocently stated I should make a cuff based on that design. As they say, if it was a snake, it would have bit me. Thank goodness for other artists, this piece wouldn't have come into being without them.

Just managing to get it to sinter was an exciting feat, but having it on the cover of Metal Clay Artist Magazine for their third anniversary issue is beyond any expectation I would have for it. So here it is, it took about two month to complete and lots of courage to fire. It's the process behind the piece through stills and video. If you're curious about the specific skills demonstrated, check out my previous blog postings about all those techniques. And another big THANKS to Catherine and Gordon no man is an island, much credit goes to you and the staff at MCAM.

Pierced PMC Sterling Clay Ring (4PAM_6)

** FOR FULL PDF TUTORIAL CLICK HERE**

The Phoenix Paradigm.

The phoenix is a classic representation of life, death, and rebirth in a number of mythologies spanning the globe. This mystical bird, that rises from the ashes of it’s previously burnt form, speaks to more than just primitive fantasy. I believe many of these kinds of symbolic stories hold within them the truth of the many dimensions of the the human experience, being more allegorical than literal. 

To me, the phoenix tells the the story of transformation. In order for the new to be born, first room must be made, and all the experiences leading up to that dissolution feeds the process of renewal. For example, the children we were must be left behind to become the adults we are meant to be. The innocence of childhood is traded for the freedom and responsibility of adulthood. It’s not that one is better than the other, it’s simply the natural progression of form. With the phoenix, there is no fear of that transition, because the surety of renewal is written within the very flames of transformation. This piece was designed to express this system of transformation but in the context of how this applies to the discovery of one’s true self. 

Upon first view, fire encompasses this entire necklace. The focal is flames wrapped around a charred chunk of wood. The wood, although gnarled in texture, has the look of a once carefully carved and refined form. I think we often perfect our personalities in the same way. There’s this wild, unruly, instinct within us, that we smooth, and carve away at it to create our social personality. This construct is often mistaken for being our true self. I don’t believe our true nature is either simply an animal instinct or this refined personality, but in order to discover our true nature, we must offer up the illusion that we are these things to the fire of clear consciousness

The clarity of consciousness is not a complicated thing. It is a natural form, it is simply the act of observation. In the same way that fire consumes, so does this clarity. For example, when we feel angry, we say “I am angry.” If you are able to step back and simply observe this feeling, you begin to realize that this fury, can be boiled down to physiological changes. Perhaps your heart races, your breathing become more shallow, you feel a surge of energy as your endorphins are released. You can begin to see that you are not this feeling, you are just experiencing this feeling, you are feeling angry. So if this is how you are feeling, who is it that is observing this? Who is it that is “feeling”? Where is this “who” located? Where does this observer begin or end?

This process is the beginning sparks of the fire of consciousness. It’s not a process that happens just once, and is finished. It is a process that we renew each and everyday, in each and every moment. As we burn away the false forms that we identify as our “self” that clarity arises. The Phoenix is that clarity, it is just awareness passing through one form to another form, arising and falling, without fear, without judgment. Even as it takes it’s first breath and emerges from the ashes, it begins it’s journey once again toward the fire. In embracing this paradigm I believe we begin to discover what lies beyond language, beyond thought, beyond emotion. We begin to discover that wellspring of simply “being.” This simply “being” is represented by the natural form of the fire agate cabochon. 

Once again I wanted a setting that would allow the stone to be removed, because this simply “being” goes beyond this paradigm of existence. It is the fluent energy that animates our experiences, the space in between each and every atom that fills the entire universe. It can be described but never defined, it is beyond all allegories, beyond the constraints of language, whether symbolic, written, or spoken. It simply is.

"Chos Kyi'khor Lo" The Wheel of Transformation: From Inspiration to Expression

The process of inspiration to expression is a wonderful, frustrating, and beautiful struggle. A little microcosm of living life, so much a part of us, but from some place beyond us. Here's a brief history of how this particular piece came to be. It began with the oddly shaped stone. It's a faceted yellow opal bullet cabochon from Thailand I found on Ebay. At the time I was cruising for a cab to fit a totally different project. It was unusual enough, I ordered it, and when I got it in the mail, I was surprised at how big the stone actually was. I loved it, but it sat on my bench neglected for a few months. One day, while working on another piece, I looked up, saw the stone and thought "hmmm.... that kind of looks like a lotus bud..." followed by "huh... it's faceted into 8 segments... hmm... Buddhist's 8 fold path," which reminded me of the Wheel of Dharma...

"Chos Kyi'kor Lo" means Wheel of Transformation in Tibetan. In buddhism it's a symbol expressing the path of practice one takes to rediscovering no-self through the 8 fold path. I also remember a friend once explaining to me that  the wheel, in a Native American tradition (can't remember which one,) is a metaphor for all the world's religions and spiritual traditions. Each one is a spoke that leads to the same place- God, enlightenment, truth, or what I like to think of as the source from which inspiration springs. As this imagery brewed in my mind, the Ouroboros began weaving itself between the spokes. The Ouroboros (meaning "he who eats the tail" in Greek) represents the self nurturing, self devouring, cycle of life and more subtly the often contradictory process of the human experience.  For me, the two images became inseparable. It's through seeing this contrary human mind that we can find that path to what's beyond mind. Put simply the process begins with the transformation of "want what I can't have, don't want what I have" into "wait, what is it I'm actually looking for? and who is it that is looking anyways?" 

Many years ago, I think it was my teacher Tulku Tubten Rinpoche, explained that our troublesome minds weren't something to deny but something to present as an offering. To move into that state of suffering, experience it, understand it, know it is a shared human experience, then offer it  at of the alter of transformation as if it were a beautiful bouquet of flowers. The burning of incense very much represents that process, it's through that fire of consciousness that what appears very real and solid, like our tumultuous minds, reveals itself as a vaporous illusion. Hmmm... actually, that sounds like something Mr. Spock would say!

Construction: The petal and wheel design were hand drafted then transferred onto steel backed photopolymer plates. I made 10 different sizes of petals, using seven of those sizes. I started with the pendant first, building the two rings of petals. I then formed the wheel design into silver clay and pierced around the entire design so that the relief would be more dramatic. I opted to solder the bezel wire onto the pendant after firing the base to allow the clay to shrink to it's optimal density and prevent any distortion from occurring. Perhaps I'm overly paranoid about distortion from working with base metal clays! I knew the bail needed to be low profile, so I decided on a hinge and the slotted shelf system. After firing I applied oil paste to the bail, followed by Art Clay Gold Paste, kiln fired and pulled it out of the kiln while still at the fusing temp hoping to encourage crackling and excintuate the subtle inclusions in the stone.  For the Ouroboros on the wheel I allowed the accent gold to cool to room temp in the kiln, as crackling would have distorted the image. I then attached the bail, soldered the bezel to the base, set the stone, and pushed the petals a little inward to curl around the stone.

The base of the vessel is built in Fastfire BRONZclay, and the pieces are all fitted to prevent slippage. The disc in the bottom of the vessel  has a hole for small sticks of incense, or a cone, acts as a catch for ash and is easily removable. Getting it all to fit together did require a little bit of hammering and sanding, but nothing too extreme. I did have to repair some cracks in the main base, repairing and re-firing three times total. All in all I was happy with my first major construction experience with Fastfire BRONZclay. Compared to some previous experimental projects, three re-firings seemed pretty manageable....

The lotus was something of an exercise in patience, which I thought was a rather appropriate theme. I started with the inner ring working my way out, stabilizing each ring  and increasing the petal sizes as I progressed. The curled outer petals were formed by draping each one on a knitting needle until it just began to hold it's shape, then pinched the base of the petal  a little so it would match the shape of the ring of petals it was to be connected to. I reinforced all the connections with syringe paste, sanded, re-sanded, and then sanded it all again with 600 grit wet/dry. For as much as I fussed with it, I'm shocked I didn't drop it or break one of the petals while still in it's greenware state! In the end that it all even fit together was a bit of a miracle,  but any act of creation, artistic or otherwise, is a bit of miracle isn't it?