Going Native

Lately I love being home. After 17 years of being at my shop every day, the luxury of waking up and NOT going for a long commute to the city is still a great feeling.
I love the East Bay, and am starting to feel part of the creative community of craftspeople who live and work there.
Being home all the time makes me want to make things that beautify my environment and are functional.
That has always been an important concept for my artistic life.
I need to make things that are beautiful object that are of use to the people who own them.
I think my love of fabric and ceramics is deeply rooted in my love of the indigenous culture of the Americas... the absolutely amazing pottery and rugs and woven cloth and baskets.
When I found out that there was in fact an ancestor in my mother's past who was a native American, Cree woman, I was thrilled.
Suddenly it explained the pull I felt towards the crafts and the life stories of the native peoples.
I still feel that there stewardship of the land and there spiritual connection to all of the plants and animals in their environment was much more elegant and full of grace than the European version of spiritual thought that I was taught as a child.

So, if my home tableware seems a bit ethnic, that's great. It is the spirit guide of my ancestor, and my connection with that early art that is coming forth.