When I get to the bottom I go back to the top of the slide

I once got some very good advice: if something happens that you can't control, don't make excuses. Acknowledge it, state the facts, take ownership of it, move on.

During last years Exeter Open Studios my maternal grandmother went into hospital in Sweden. Her heart stopped while she was out, luckily people saw her and called an ambulance. She was in the hospital for about 2 weeks before passing away. In that time she never woke up. Due to my workload and the logistics of the situation I wasn't able to see her in the hospital or attend the funeral.

I don't think there's any way that you can, or indeed should, keep things like that from impacting on your life, even less so when you work in the creative field and when you work for yourself by yourself you do all the work, all the time, regardless of what else is happening. The body of work that I was working on related to my family, Arvsynden (Original Sin), I had to stop working on as it was too much for me to work with in relation to what else was happening. I'm hoping to go back to it soon but for the time being I'm putting it aside. I have 2 part finished pieces and one finished.

Arvsynden Del 1 - Tronarvingen (Original Sin Part 1 - The heir to the throne)

The image is of my maternal grandfather, Karl-Gustav Linnros, in his youth.

I decided to go back to working on a project I'd started during the summer, Walk of the Monoliths. These are a collection of abstract sculptures relating to the idea of something static with the potential to move, while also relating to people that I know, that are a part of my life, that have dealt with difficulty in their lives and how that may have changed them in different ways. I've only included a few images here as I will be posting all of the Monoliths made to date on my website.

"Walk of the Monoliths - Feeling attached"

"Walk of the Monoliths - Fluidity of soul"
So although I dropped off the radar for a while I'm still very much working, making (and selling!) new things, revisiting old work and planning for the future. I'm no longer part of the organizing team for The Craft Hub, but I'm continuing to be an active member and aim to support and help promote the Hub as it continues to grow.

I'm looking forward to taking on 2011 as a New Year with everything it brings and has to offer.

Work-in-progress

I'm never sure about posting images of work in progress; it's not finished (and some of it never makes it to a finished stage) and only I really know where it's headed. It feels like opening your mouth and speaking without knowing what you're going to say.

My project about my family is proving very hard; when I work on a piece all the stories kind of swirl around in my head and leave me feeling completely emotionally exhausted. As I'm working I start feeling the need to incorporate individuals whom I did meet but, because my family is what it is, still never really knew.

To cut a long ramble short, here are some images of 3 pieces that I'm currently working on. The vessels each symbolize a member of my family. There is still glaze to be added, then transfers and a smoke-firing. It might be hard to see where it's going but it's much clearer in my head.




This clay looks red in the pictures, more purple in real life and fires black.










I fired the two bottom ones last week (photos are pre-firing), the top one is still waiting for a piece of white clay to be wrapped across the front before being fired.

I've named the series Arvsynden, which is Swedish for Original Sin. I am liking the direct translation of Inherited Sin much better however.