The Gift of Art

A very big box showed up on our stoop, and it was from a family I've been stalking friends with via The Internets for several years now. I've met Brit and Scott in person, and Brit is famous here for being the ringleader of the Round Robin I participated in.





Scott is an artist; he makes pottery. Brit is an artist; she makes quilts. I have many pieces of their work; I've purchased these from their Etsy shop. I've purchased them as gifts for other people, and in the end, I've never been able to part with them. Is that wrong? If it is, I don't want to be right. Because I love that orca plate and my beautiful peppermint swirl bowl. They go perfectly with my woodland crazy quilt table runner and my snail and chick lunch bags.

One day, earlier this year, they surprised me with a beautifully glazed bowl and homemade jam. Stop it. Sadly, the jar of jam broke the bowl. I spent many, many hours repiecing that bowl, and gluing it back together. It's my Humpty Dumpty Bowl, and there were a few spots that I just couldn't get back. You'd think that would break my heart ~ it certainly was traumatic when I first laid out the pieces like a puzzle ~ but it doesn't. I use that bowl on my writing table to hold the various things that I need to 'make magic' there, and the wee little missing pieces have become part of the art and I love it dearly.

But truly, nothing could prepare me for what was in this box. Scott made several special pieces, each inspired by a different person. And, unbelievably, quite humblingly, I was one of those people. As he made each piece, he says he thought about each person the whole time, essentially 'dedicating' the pottery to the person. Mine, I knew, was to be a beautifully carved mug.



Here it is. It's breathtaking, literally! I tried to get a picture of the interior glaze...it's so... wondrous. I wish I had a better camera, because there's no way I can adequately describe it! These wee little freckles slay me.





And it was tucked inside this. I'm at a total loss for words. (Shut up.) It's just amazing. The colors, and the carvings...he must use some kind of stamping? The etchings are absolutely sublime. I called Erik in to look at the pieces, and as we talked about what they are, what they mean to me, I swear I could feel my heart grow two sizes. My fingers played over the bowl and mug, and on one level I was talking to Erik, and on a totally different level, underneath all of it, I wasn't thinking at all...I was feeling the glassy smoothness of the insides, and the perfect bumpiness of the
outsides...I was absorbing the colors and the textures, and I turned to Erik, and I said, "I feel so lucky."

So, so, so incredibly lucky. I keep my Scott-stuff (as I affectionately refer to it!) in the kitchen on the stove. I use them and look at them every day. It's functional art, and I'm sure he'd approve! I pulled those pieces and lined them up on the counter with my new pieces and I just stared.


I stared at them and ran my hands over them every time I passed (which was quite a bit, as, have I mentioned, I'm working hard on these three bushels of apples?!?) and I love them.

I love them both.

And, I really, really, really like the pottery too. :)