Japan

TRULY, I love this life of seclusion. Carrying my staff, I walk toward a friend’s cottage. The trees in his garden, soaked by the evening rain, Reflect the cool, clear autumnal sky. The owner’s dog comes to greet me; Chrysanthemums bloom along the fence. These people have the same spirit as the ancients; An earthen wall marks their separation from

Little has been done in Europe with ash glazes, but in Japan the ash glaze has been a predominant feature of pottery since its use was first discovered in the Nara period. The desire for a nonuniform surface that can catch, in the glaze of each pot, the irregularities of nature hails back to the Japanese love of things that are imperfect and

My personal dilemma over this has become increasingly pointed. I’ve turned my back on the flood of visual material being produced, but I’m struggling desperately in the hope of creating something a little better. In order to do so, I’ve even had to rationalize the art of navigating this world. I tell people I hate professionals, but I know that in

This nurturing of the whole person calls to mind a Japanese concept called ikigai, which means ‘reason for being’. Ikigai is whatever it is that gives your life value and meaning. It is the intersection between what you love, what you’re good at, what the world needs and what you can be paid for. Those who manage to find this sweet spot are,

“As my friends paint that picture, you will be subjectively giving form to what my friends already comprehend. Think of Thelonious Monk. Thelonious Monk did not get those unusual chords as a result of logic or theory. He opened his eyes wide, and scooped those chords out from the darkness of his consciousness. What is important is not creating

The two of them didn’t know it at the time, but this was the only truly complete place in the entire world. Totally isolated, yet the one place not tainted with loneliness.

him