GEROCA

Surfing the net I found this artist that I find pretty amazing. Click here to see more.

And in the beginning there was nothing. And God said 'Let there be light.'
And there was still nothing, but now you could SEE it!

(Anonymous)

THE FINAL F

Now I have a design that I'm satisfied with but to print it is another story. I have looked into screen-printing but I don't know if I have the facilities to do it here myself and printing in a shop is a major investment. This means: wait and see!

Yesterday I played bocce-ball for hours at the Leo party in the park. When I have fun with the boys I don't stop till I'm completely exhausted and today I've been laying low all day. I baked bread in the morning and tried out the bike after its repair. The back axle broke day before yesterday when I was downtown, so, the bike finally got the overhaul it has needed for a while.

All afternoon I was reading. I have just found a new author that I like: William Maxwell, and I got the first volume of his collected works, 997 pages, from the library.

QUOTE

There is no conflict between mysticism and science, but there is a conflict between the science of 2000BC and the science of 2000AD and that’s the mess in our religions; we’ve got stuck with an image of the universe that is about as simple and childish as you can imagine…it’s of no use to us.
We have to have poets, we have to have seers, who will render to us the experience of the transcendence through the world in which we are living.

(Joseph Campbell)

So here is a more simple design. This is the calligraphy that I use, inspired by the big rune stone in Jelling in Denmark.
I would like that better on a t-shirt - what do you think?

F

Of all the runes I love FEHU the best and I'm thinking of making a t-shirt. This is my first attempt at a design, but I might make it more simple without spelling FEHU out in runes.
Please give me feedback with your vote!

MANDALA

I don't remember if I ever posted this before.

RIP JOHN BROWN

John Brown, the teacher in whose studio I have been working, first in January and now the last five weeks, died of a heart attack last night.
Yesterday he was emptying the kiln with us all helping to carry the pieces to the shelves - today he is gone. It is hard to believe.
John's studio is a vital part of the lives of many people and he was keeping everything smoothly moving.
He will be missed and remembered.

THE FORM OF THE FORMLESS

Another quote from The Book of the Way and Virtue:

It is not clear above;
it is not dark below;
unceasing, unnamable,
it rturns again to nothing.
It is the form of the formless,
the image of nothing.
It is said to be disturbing and distracting.
Meeting it you will not see its head;
following it you will not see its rear.

LAST WEEK

On the fourth of July I took a hike with Jun and Yukari and Jun's old school-friend who didn't look his age.
We got lost and the hike was so long that it completely tired me out so I couldn't do anything much the rest of the day.

On the fifh I went to Wasemo's 18 years birthday. I have known him since he was in his mother's belly. Now he is a big guy.

Written in runes this is a poem by Virginia Hamilton Adair called 'God to the Serpent'. God praises the snake as his masterpiece and derides the humans for their vanity thinking that they are created in God's image.
I love the last line to the snake: "I'm glad you stayed in Eden when they left."



These two are from the first batch this time at Clay Creation. It came out of the kiln yesterday and was mostly disappointing with exception of these.

SCROLL

Here is the finished scroll - click to enlarge!

SNAKE OF RUNES

Mario gave me a scroll that he bought in Japan. It is made of rice paper and is 0ne foot wide and exactly as long as I am tall: 5'7". I have had it for a while, not knowing what to make of it, but now it turns out to be an excellent vehicle for my rune mania. I have filled a little more than half of it with excerpts from Dao De Jing. I make borders in between the different parts and I can also use these to decorate my ceramic bowls. I'll take pictures but for now you'll have to make do with this one:

A STEP FURTHER

FINALS

Here is the flounder I told you about:


and the bowl made on my birthday and inscribed with runes:


the raku piece:


and the pre-Colombian chicken tripod:

COLORED RUNES

THE SAGE HAS NO FIXED MIND

In ceramics class we had this assignment:
Choose a form and give it a texture that is foreign to it.
I thought this was silly until I got an idea: a flounder with runes instead of scales (I shall post it in a few days when the finals are over).

Now, what I’m doing in my drawings is really the same idea: the form being chapters from ‘The Book of the Way and Virtue’ and the texture being runes.
It is still kind of silly because I’m the only one who can read it (until somebody else get bitten by a mad rune)! But, really, it is not that difficult to read – give it a try!

RUNIC ALPHABET

My runic alphabet is taken from Codex Runicus, a Skanian law book from about 1300AD and one of the few examples of runes written on paper.
The missing letters:
j and w are taken from the Older Futhark;
c, y and ng are from Anglo-Saxon Runes;
q is from the Runic Alphabet by Gabriele Campbell (lostfort.blogspot.com);
z from the common Germanic Runes.
V, x and å are created by me (x as a combination of k and s)

23rd DUNUN VILLAGE

These three together spell out the 52nd chapter of 'The Book of the Way and Virtue'

What comes next:

The more I write the runes the more I like them. This one, in ink, is a chapter from the Dao De Jing.

RUNES #4

This one says:
Holiness is everywhere and to accept all as holy is the key. Love is the result as well as the cause.
Pure mind is all pervading Bliss.
The sorrows are like clouds, vital to all creation. The rain of tears moistens the soil, and to accept all with equanimity is to follow the Great Spirit.

SHED

Brian and I build this shed behind the wall we built a week ago. The door is the one I built sixteen years ago when I moved in at Wilkes Circle, and the step below it is an old railroad tie that appeared when we started digging. I'm going to paint the shed.
Can you see the passionflower growing up the wall? I was given it on my last birthday at Wilkes Circle. It is going to come back to life now, after a year in a pot.
It was lovely to get a soft rain yesterday after planting - and more to come tomorrow.
This was my vision for the backyard when we moved in and it's good to see it manifested.

QUOTE

I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.
(Mohandas Gandhi)

BACK TO SCHOOL

Coming to ceramics class after spring break there were some nice surprises.

PRAYER WHEEL

The Runes say:"Give Thanks".

BLESSINGS TO THE HOUSE

Peter gave me an idea: to make an equivalent to the embroidered "God bless this house" but with Runes and, for my part, without "God" because I think that word creates confusion.
So this one says:

May Blessings
upon this house
cause happiness
to all who live here
and all who enter
by the virtue of
these Runes

If you try to read it note that there are special letters for 'th' and 'ng'.

DRAMA IN THE WILD

RUNES #3

The Unity of the Great Spirit ties everything together.
The affirmation of Unity is a Love that is equal for all creation.
One can nourish such Love as a feeling but it only becomes real as it translates into compassionate action.
That is when one values the interest of others as highly as ones own.
That is Big Love.

TEAPOT FINISHED

It really came out exactly like I planned with one exception: it drips all over when you pour.
Live and learn!
Many potters make teapots that cannot be used, just as an artistic statement, so that's what this one is.

MORE RUNES

This says:
The Great Spirit is one name for the energy that is the substance of the subatomic particles. This basic Energy contains the seeds of every quality imaginable and thus contains the faculties of awareness and intelligence. If these were not inherent in the basic particles, how could they come into existence by simply adding particles to particles?

I LOVE THE RUNES

It says:
Life has a will that is a force in creation
and goes beyond the laws of the material.
Therefore life shapes its own destiny.
Pleasure and pain are reflections
like shadow and light.
The big bang is the beginning of time and space.
Its origin is the still point beyond space-time.
We call it the Great Spirit.

FROM THE LAST KILN FIRING

The teapot was made last fall but didn't make it into glaze firing. It came out nicer than I expected, but it is very heavy and contains only one cup.

Today I didn't make it to school because I hurt my hand. I dreamed that I was attacked and I punched the attacker as hard as I could, but it was my night table that I punched and my hand was bleeding all over.