Monday, March 31, 2008

slow spring


Spring brings grand notions of change, new life, possibilities, and the nagging feeling that I Need To Get Busy. So, I close myself in my studio and work like a crazy woman, and that is exactly what I become.

I spent (what seemed like) a whole afternoon searching for a round file, a handy, indispensable tool used for smoothing the interior edges of circles. As my studio is small, messes from multiple projects crowd each other for space, and I searched through reclaimed wool sweaters, old paintings, potting soil, and rocks (yes, I do posses a box of rocks, and yes, I have ranked my mental capacity a shelf above them). Frustrated, (I won’t finish an order!) I abandoned the studio for the couch, a cup of tea, and online shoe shopping.

Lately I’ve been reading (along with everyone else in the US) Michael Pollan’s books on food, and would love to adopt his confidence in the equation Slow equals Positive Change. As the Slow Food movement develops, so does the slow arts and crafts, where real individuals support themselves by hand making all the items our culture loves to buy from the big box stores. I wish to live mindfully, to attempt to practice the slow movement, not just in food, but in the everyday, and especially in my small business. I just need to be a bit more literal in my definition of Slow.

The goal in the studio for today is to not only take or make time, but to forget time.
And find that file.

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