The Beauty of Broken Pieces

I unloaded the kiln today. It was like Christmas!! I had so many pieces turn out just the way I'd imaged they would. And some not so much. 

Two pieces I knew weren't going to be exactly the way I'd originally planned were my burdock leaves. They actual leaves grew at the end of the drive and were huge! I loved them. I've made a bunch of small tiles. I used some of the experiments to tile the slop sink in the studio. These were much bigger. Much bigger. I worried they would crack...and they did. The biggest leaf cracked clear through at the stem. I simply pushed the broken pieces together when I hung them and you can hardly tell. The smaller one had a partial crack there was no way to disguise. But I hung it anyway. I didn't try to disguise it. I thought it was beautiful despite the break...or maybe because of it. I am celebrating that break.

As I puttered around the studio examining the pieces and taking pics of all my new pieces, I mulled the two broken pieces. My first report in my college ceramics class was about Rob Barnard. He had a broken piece of pottery I loved.  You can read about it here.

I really think my two broken pieces are my favorites of the batch because they relate so much to what I do as a writer.

I can hear you thinking, "Really, Holly? Burdock leaves relate to writing?"

Yes. 

As a writer I've learned that everyone is a little broken. Some people's breaks are obvious. You can't disguise them. Some are hidden. Others who meet them might not notice. You might think they have it all together. And yet, there is a fine break right down their core and it impacts everything they do.

As a writer, those breaks in my characters are what makes them human...those breaks make them beautiful. And as a person, I realize the same applies to real people as well. There is such beauty in all our broken pieces.  I wish more people realized that.

Tomorrow's release, A Hometown Christmas, deals with two characters who have their broken pieces and ultimately the find that their breaks compliment each other. The heroine, Maeve, has a saying. "I can't save the world...but I can try." It's one of my favorite lines. One that I wrote without much thought and later realized how much I loved the sentiment.  I've tried to live that sentiment. This summer, the Minions practiced Random Acts of Kindness around the neighborhood. One of the neighbors collects frogs. They painted some and using ninja-like moves, secretly hid them in with the rest. They were so excited as they chatted about how surprised she'd be when she discovered the new frogs. I think Maeve would have approved.

Broken pieces. They make us beautiful. And random acts of kindness spreads that beauty. 

I hope you have a beautiful week! And if you have a moment, I hope you'll check out Maeve's story, A Hometown Christmas at Kindle, Nook, AppleBooks, Kobo.

Holly

PS There's a link to some of my pieces on my website, www.HollyJacobs.com The new pieces aren't up yet. I hope to have them loaded soon so check back often! 

PPS Here's the list of the entire Hometown Hearts series!

Crib Notes: Hometown Hearts #1

Kindle, Nook, Kobo, iBook

A Special Kind of Different: Hometown Hearts #2

Kindle, iBook, Kobo, Nook

Homecoming: Hometown Hearts #3

Kindle, Kobo, IBooks, Nook

 Suddenly a Father: Hometown Hearts #4

Kindle, Kobo, Nook, iBooks

Something Borrowed: Hometown Hearts #5

Kindle, Kobo, Nook, iBooks

Something Blue: Hometown Hearts #6 

Kindle, Kobo, Nook, Apple Books

Something Perfect: Hometown Hearts #7 

Apple Books, Nook, Kobo, Kindle

Something Unexpected: A Hometown Hearts short story 
Amazon

A Hometown Christmas: Hometown Hearts #8
Kindle 
Nook
AppleBooks
Kobo

 

My Novel Freshman Experience, Part 12...The Beauty of Broken Pieces

The Beauty of Broken Pieces

We only have one presentation in our ceramics class. Professor H. gave us a list of possible artists, but I went exploring (I know you're shocked that I didn't follow the easy route).  My interest is functional pottery.  I see the beauty in the mundane, the everyday, the useful.  I think you can see that in my writing.  I don't write epic stories, or stories of riches and fame.  I write about every day people.  PTA moms, women who've lost something but find something new...heck, even women who find leg waxing to be torturous!  Normal, every day.

So, my artist is Rob Barnard.  I love his pieces.  Most of what he does is wood-fired.  He does have a collection of white glazed as well.  Like I said, I loved his pieces, but more than that, I love the fact he writes about pottery and has been written about it often.

I love this description Louise Cort wrote in a lovely piece on his teapots in Ceramics Monthly, 12/83.  

“Beyond structure, the clay itself unites the parts. The clay is charcoal gray. That gray seems monochrome at first, but tones of ocher and orange hover just below the surface in some areas. Near the base on the side opposite the spout lies a band of burnt orange that is revealed only when the pot is tipped for pouring. The clay in that area is also glossier: the same lick of wood flame that brought out the color also seared and polished the clay.

"The predominantly gray substance of the pot has the dense but porous texture of good gray flannel. But if it were flannel, the color would have come not from a chemical dye but from fine-spun, naturally dark fleece.”

Cort's description of this simple teapot was as beautiful as the teapot itself.  When you look at a painting you know it's art, but something as simple as a teapot, you might miss it.  Like I said, that's what I love about Barnard's work...the art within everyday.  But along with his art, it was his words and explanation of his art that truly drew me...

"The thing that moves people to look at art comes through the object; it makes them feel excited and say I wonder what it is and why it is. In other words, they can access it through an object. This is what made me feel so good because I had a way to justify not only to myself, but maybe to other people that these objects are capable of carrying this kind of meaning.

 
   "You know we don’t generally ascribe a big value to these things. You may look at a plate and say, “Oh, this is just a plate.” But the point for me is to try and fill this object with so much that—and you may overlook it at first—but somewhere when you pick it up and start feeling it and you start noticing it, it would be unlike any other experience that you’ve ever had. The thought of drinking out of a piece of art is an entirely different thing; it has a way of working on you that’s different." (Tom Nakashima & Rob Barnard, Cherry Center for Art, Carmel CA 4/19/13: The Artist's Way by Richard Whittaker, Apr 21, 2013)

Remember my Day of Beauty posts about Erie Art Museum? Barnard's description reminds me of how I put myself in others art and it altered how I looked at all of it.

That first picture on this page...the broken plate (which took me a while to find...I read this account before I found the piece)?  That was the main reason I decided to do my presentation on Barnard.  When I started making baskets a few years back, I quickly discovered I liked to do things that weren't quite what the teacher had in mind.  (I know, you're shocked. LOL) 

That broken plate...it is art.

"Against the advice of Yagi, he decided on wood-fired stoneware as his primary medium without going through the usual apprenticeship of firing glazed work in an electric kiln. One of the first things he made for the school’s wood-fired kiln was a rimmed plate, a form more associated with porcelain. Then, irritated because the lip had shrunk, he smashed it down, breaking the rim in five places. Surprised by the effect, he saved it. It is this plate that Yagi chose for the student exhibition." Beyond East and West by Jane Addams Allen, Ceramic Monthly June 1995

That idea of beauty in broken pieces...oh, how that spoke to the writer in me.  I write about strong women, but like that plate, they have their flaws.  That's what I keep bumping into in art. 

Holly

PS I interrupt this art, strong women and ceramic discussion to remind you that the first of my PTA mom trilogy came out yesterday as ebooks!  Check them out.

PPS.  Part Eleven, Part Ten, Part Nine, Part Eight, Part Seven, Part Six, Part Five, Part Four, Part Three, Part Two, Part One