My daughter coloring an image of Sam Chung’s vases

Earlier this year, I read Oliver Burkeman’s “Meditations for Mortals“, and in the book, there’s a quote from the artist Chuck Close that I’ve found myself returning to. It’s been one of those quotes that keeps sneaking back into my brain when I’m trying to fall asleep, or waiting in line somewhere, or daydreaming in a faculty meeting. So, I decided to take a moment on this blog to write about it. The quote is: “Inspiration is for amateurs – the rest of us just show up and get to work.“

As a ceramics professor, I’ve seen students paralyzed by the belief that they need to wait for some magical spark of inspiration before beginning their work. They sit, staring at the clay or their sketchbook, hoping for some revolutionary idea to suddenly jump into them. I must say that I’ve also felt this in my own practice. Sometimes, I get stuck thinking and cannot seem to get started on anything. In these moments, you have to just get to work.

Close isn’t suggesting that inspiration doesn’t exist or isn’t valuable. Instead, he’s pointing out a crucial idea: that inspiration most often comes through the work itself, not before it.

As I thought more about this idea, I remembered a quote I read in Angela Duckworth’s book “Grit“. She references William James’ observation that “There is no more miserable human being than the one for whom the beginning of every bit of work must be decided anew each day.” While this is a bit dramatic, his point complements Close’s point. The agony of deciding whether to begin, waiting for the perfect moment, or the perfect idea, creates far more challenge than simply establishing a practice of showing up and starting.

When we develop routines and habits around our creative practice, we bypass the psychological friction that comes with deliberation. The ceramicist Warren Mackenzie, also quoted in “Grit,” noted that “The first 10,000 pots are difficult, and then it gets a little bit easier.” This isn’t just about technical skill – it’s about developing the mental habit of beginning without overthinking.

So, how can you get started on something today?

I finished a new work last week, got it photographed (had to lower the table of my photo booth to make it fit), and it’s headed to the State of Clay in Indiana exhibition at the Indiana Clay Conference in Muncie, Indiana.

There are more images and descriptions (including this work) of the Bunker Series works HERE.

This work was another slow one for me. I worked on the piece on and off for several months, pausing many times during the building and coming back to it, sometimes weeks later. Then, when I was almost finished, I paused on it for another couple of weeks while I considered several bunker forms for the top. The work is taller than others in the series, 30″ high in total.

The work is headed to the State of Clay in Indiana exhibition at the Indiana Clay Conference. If you’re not headed to the conference, you should be!

Anyway, it always feels good to finish a new work, and I’m excited to get a new one started.

Creek on Nine Penny hike

Now that I’m restarting this blog after a short 9-year hiatus, I thought I’d start with a little post about some gratitude I’m having for the days spent hiking with my daughter. She has been getting into hiking lately (at least short distances) and I’m soaking it up – especially in this absolutely beautiful weather we’re having in mid-to-late May in Indiana.

I’ve always wanted to ensure that my daughter develops an appreciation for nature and a desire to be outdoors, so when I’ve the opportunity to get her outside, I try to take it every time. On this particular day, we hiked the Nine Penny Branch trail outside of Charlestown, Indiana. We had our friend Eve with us, and we just had a blast. Seeing the two explore the creek, searching for cool rocks and odd bugs, warmed my heart.

I know it’s a privilege getting outside like this, but I hope you’re able to find time with the trees as well.

My daughter and I and an LVA opening reception. I’m not sure who took this photo, but it’s up on the LVA website on the page where you sign up for their newsletter.

Ok, I know. It’s been a while – this blog hasn’t been updated by anyone (me) in a very long time. The irony is that my advanced students in ceramics at IUS Ceramics are required to maintain a weekly blog of their progress in the studio. Each week, they write and post pictures about whatever progress they’ve seen in their studios that week. We understand and appreciate that “progress” can mean many things – sometimes it’s great finished work, but often progress comes in the form of pieces that are duds, failures, experiments, and idea generation. My students archive it and write about it each week. They absolutely love it .. well, maybe not “love” it. I say they love it, and they say they don’t (we agree to disagree on that particular point).

Anyway, while I often tout the benefits of writing about your work, I realized that I wasn’t following my own teachings. I’ve neglected this practice and let my blog lapse (albeit, only for 9 years). But still! In any event, I decided to practice what I preach and breathe new life into my blog.

I will now attempt to write more often than once every 9 years.

Thanks for reading!

Brian

 
This is an exhibition I organized for my advanced students in the Ceramics Program at IU Southeast. Myself and Chanda Zea, the current IUS Ceramics Resident Artist, also exhibited our work alongside them in the exhibition. The exhibition was titled CONNECT, and took place in the Blackburn Gallery at the Mary Anderson Art Center in Floyds Knobs, Indiana in April 2016.
 

Hi all –

An update from sabbatical land ..

It’s been a productive sabbatical so far –  4 new works made for the “Sweet home …” show at Zephyr Gallery, much work on the Standardized Test for Congress, then a new 3D printed and digital projection work for the IUS faculty show (also showing my Standardized Test there), now starting a new work for a show that Ben Ahlvers curated me into at the Lawrence Arts Center in Lawrence, KS.

When I began my sabbatical, one of my (many) goals was to establish a daily or weekly routine that could allow me to maintain more contact with my research and creative activity as I moved back into teaching and my regular school activities.  As those that have been in a tenure track teaching position can attest to, it’s not easy balancing all of the commitments one has at school with your research and other life commitments.  To be honest, I’ve really struggled with that during the last few years and have consequently been a little out of touch with some of the ideas in my work lately.

Enter sabbatical.  One of the really amazing things about sabbatical is that right now I can have the mind-space to establish that routine and figure out how to make new work in my new life.  Things are different now.  I have way more things on my plate, more responsibilities and commitments, and I think I may not have put enough emphasis on establishing a new routine for a new life.  It’s as if I thought that the same routine would work for a much different way of living.  Grad school days are WAY over (thankfully), but I can’t expect a routine that worked then, to work now.  Or even a routine that worked when I taught at Baylor (when I had way less on my plate) to work now.  So, new goal: find a new routine that works in my life as it is right now.  Must be productive and proactive, but also balanced and reflective.

In my new bullet journal, I started a list called “Find routine”.  One of the things on that list is doing a daily 20 minutes of distraction free (relatively for me) writing about some topic.  This is the first day of that.  I wanted to start doing this at the beginning of my sabbatical, but better to do it now than never, so here we go.  That was 18 minutes .. now 2 minutes for proofreading.  🙂

Things are on the up.

Brian

My advanced students keep a weekly blog about their progress in the studio throughout the semester. At the end of this semester, I asked them to reflect on the semester, prompting them with a few questions. One of the questions I asked them was .. What gets you up in the morning? What gets you to the studio?

Their answers are inspiring and remind me of some of the reasons I am engaged in my own studio practice …

“My son, my family, my art, my housework and my alarm gets me up in the morning. I come to the studio to center myself and some clay and remind myself that no matter how crazy and off center the world (or my clay) gets, it can be shaped into something beautiful or at the very least useful with a little time, practice, and work”.

“I come to the studio each day because it’s fun. I love the experience of starting from nothing, making the clay, wedging it, wedging it, wedging it, then throwing on the wheel to create something that I can take home and use and know that I had a hand in every creative process that it took for that work to exist. It satisfies me, and knowing that that piece could survive and be discovered thousands of years from now makes me feel a little invincible.”

“I look forward to going to the studio because it acts as my escape from the real world. I love being creative and seeing what I can make each day.”

“I want to bring a happiness to people. People’s lives are hectic and hard, and I want to give people a little haven from all that. This is what gets me in the studio and up in the morning.”

“Originally I made pots simply because I wanted to. But now it is immensely more personal than that; even beyond my comprehension. So everyday I can make pots is a day I spend on the forefront of my self, and that’s what makes me get out of bed in the morning. I belong to it.”

“I like to work; I enjoy what I do. I like the studio, every single studio, studios in general; I’m fortunate to be at a local school, with good studios and teachers and students I get along with and like. It’s amazing, and I’m grateful for the opportunities I have.”

So, what gets you up in the morning? What gets you to the studio?

I recently submitted a grant application where I had to write a short statement of my goals and aspirations.  I had a lot of fun writing it, so I just thought I’d share it.  Here it is …

I am deeply committed to a life of learning.  I believe in the quest for knowledge in a broad sense, understanding that knowledge comes from a range of pursuits: experience, mentorship, self-discovery, and searching for (and into) the things that offer wonderment and excitement.

I am an artist, an educator, and someone who feels an innate responsibility to contribute.  With this in mind, I pursue my interests not as novelty, but as motivation to become better at what I do.  As experience is gained, so too is the responsibility to give back to others – through the reach and breadth of my artwork, the example and mentorship I give my students, and by my efforts to broaden the opportunities available to others in my field.

Ultimately, I pursue these interests in search of new experience, working to synthesize these efforts in search of a better whole. 

Finally sent out my first newsletter.

Here's to sending out at least one more in the next 51 weeks.

here's the link ..

This is a new work about the evaporation of the 4th Amendment.  It's a single-pass webpage, meaning it only plays once (until you refresh your browser window).  It's also written in HTML5, so make sure your browser is HTML5 compliant.  You should hear the reading of the 4th Amendement and the slow fading of the text.  

It's posted at https://www.brianharperstudio.com/bill-of-rights/fourth-amendment.html