And so the journey begins

And so the journey begins

Fire, Water, Earth and Air. These are the building blocks of the universe.  From these creation proceeds and without it, creation cannot be. When starting any creative act, one needs to consecrate, to purify, to bless, to charge the act or ritual being embarked on and these elements before proceeding.

There have been many twists and turns in my journey of turning towards this process of making, of the tangible creative act, this turn to switching off the screen, turning away from the modern world’s narrative of online allurement and digital fictions, and turning towards the matter of working with the earth, with clay, with mater, with mother, with the primal force of creating, with the hummus that constitutes our natural world.

To consecrate is to declare and set something apart as sacred, which demands a solemn dedication to the process. Consecration is to bless, to invoke divine favour, and here I begin my journey of four residencies this year focused on these four elements and begin with calling on the Lover, on the element of water. I call on and invoke divine flow, calling on and acknowledging my emotive longing for a new way of being, of connection with creation, with the divine act of connecting hands with earth steered by heart’s intention.  The creation of the universe is truly creative work. And I honour each of these elements at the start of this journey. And so the journey begins. It has been a veritable dual fighting back daily work obligations, family and personal commitments, travel disruptions and illness, to carve out of time to prioritise this creative learning and journey in ceramics this year. I sit in gratitude at the start of this process, which was challenging to coordinate and prioritise amid life’s demands and already has not gone as I had visualised in my mind. But within those expectations arose the need for flexibility and new strands were woven into the fold, and I gladly await what unexpected avenues will occur further and aim to hold this next year lightly, without frustration.

I now have before me the opportunity to visit four residencies and creative studios, and explore the elements of Water, Earth, Fire and Hands, all through the medium of clay. The latter element was a means to escape Air, known as the thinking element and the one I have a troubled relationship with, knowing I have challenges calming my racing mind and incessant thought streams in the dark of night. I chose to replace the last element with Hands, the alchemical element of making, not knowing that the Magician archetype had snuck his way back into the process anyway. Hands are a symbol of the Magician, whose element is Air, and so I chuckle and learn to dance with a larger moving force that has other plans for this journey. I am deeply grateful to Arts Council England for allowing me to take this journey, and explore a deep and simple joy found in childhood and then buried, then rediscovered during COVID and now being the air to breath and given life to. And while obligations keep tugging at my inbox for attention, trying to lure me back to my screen, my intuitive sense that this process demands, is to follow the gentle tug, to explore what Mary Oliver says, to allow the soft animal body love what it loves, and allow one’s soft soul song to come through. And so my journey with the four elements starts, let the alchemy begin.