Clay is formed as a result of millions of years of rocks weathering, compressed by gravity, moved from their original location of formation by wind and water.  It has no will of its own and will yield to whatever force that is applied to it.

Bruce Lee once said, “Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless – like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”

By itself, clay does not move.  It does, however, record every force that is applied to it.  This silent medium is like a mirror that reflects the maker.

I believe in spirit.

I like the analogy of human beings as onions, being peeled layer by layer.

I study my mind.

I sit in silence every morning.

I make clay objects.

I share my life with my family.

These activities are important to me because they help me peel my layers off, one by one.

To get to the core.

Where there is no thing.

Nothing contains all things.

The vessels I make are records of my state of mind.

There are no two moments alike.

The past is gone and future is yet to come.

There is only now.

A good pot for me happens when the mind is quiet enough to let the nameless Being move through the maker.

If my pots can serve as a reminder to re-mind us that there is something infinitely greater than our small minds, they have served their purpose well.

They can be returned to the earth.

As all music returns to silence in the end, so do my pots, and so do we.