These fragments of a tile were once part of a highly decorated floor at Chertsey Abbey, Surrey. Pavements of decorated ceramic tiles were a medieval innovation. They were used to add richness and splendour to great churches initially but they were subsequently used in secular contexts, including castles and royal residences. Click
In the early years of my marriage I always threw broken china away because I wanted everything to be perfect. Over the years I've grown to love cracked and broken things. My marriage is in tact (in case you wondered:-) and I have drawers and bowls full of fragments from china, glass, wood, shells and other natural gatherings.
Ancient Shards by Christina Wiese. See website here
Christina Wiese
I love this poem about broken things by Alice Walker.
I will keep broken
things:
the big clay pot
with raised iguanas
chasing their
tails; two
of their wise
heads sheared off;
I will keep broken things:
the old slave market basket brought to my door by Mississippi a jagged
hole gouged
in it's sturdy dark
oak side.
I will keep broken things:
The memory of
those long delicious night swims with you;
I will keep broken things:
In my house
there remains an honored shelf
on which i will keep broken things.
Their beauty is
they need not ever be "fixed."
I will keep your wild
free laughter though it is now missing its
reassuring and
graceful hinge.
I will keep broken things:
Thank you
So much!
I will keep broken things.
I will keep you:
pilgrim of sorrow.
I will keep myself.
- Alice Walker, "I will keep broken things"
Fragments, Monestry of Hadda, Afghanistan, 4th century. Click
Kintsugi is the Japanese art of mending broken pottery with a mixture of lacquer and powdered gold or silver. The philosophy behind this reparation is that things should not be discarded just because they are broken. There is beauty in broken, cracked and chipped objects.
Exquisite chipped bowl. Click for more here
Weathered and broken Woman's Grave Marker, Philippines. Click
Egyptian Woven Fragment: 13th - 14th century. medium: Linen, silk, metal wrapped thread. Click
Mary Ann Lehrer Plansky stitches exquisite fragments inspired by ancient cloths, the antiquities of forgotten tribes, archaeological artifacts and ruins. My heart races when I read the stories behind her pieces. Do yourself a favour and visit Mary Ann's blog here.
Mary Anne Lehrer Plansky's beautiful work. Click
Sand & Bone by Mary Ann Lehrer Plansky. Click
Jan Goodey has created an intriguing ceramic series, "The Museum of Conjecture."
"The Museum of Conjecture" by Jan Goodey .
" ....every broken thing is an opportunity for reinvention and reinterpretation. Putting the pieces together in a new way, or for a new purpose or by adding new or different parts encourages a "Science of Incomplete" to emerge." - Jan Goodey
Shards. Vessel series by Jan Goodey
Leaf Forms by Barry Smith. See blog, here.
While preparing for this post I kept coming back to Barry Smith's metal leaf forms. Barry is a generous soul who creates his metal artworks with love. He teaches his craft to others and sends his leaves into the world like little ambassadors, spreading peace and goodwill wherever they land.
Leslie Avon Miller. See blog, here.
Leslie Avon Miller's art speaks to me on an emotional level. I can't put my finger on it, but I'm thinking it has something to do with meraki.
"Please keep demonstrating the courage that it takes to swim upstream in a world that prefers putting away for retirement to putting pen to paper, that chooses practicality over poetry, that values you more for going to the gym than going to the deepest places in your soul. Please keep making your art for people like me, people who need the magic and imagination and honesty of great art to make the day-to day world a little more bearable". - Shauna Niequist
History by Donna Watson. See more from this series, here.
When Donna was struggling with a creative block I kept thinking ..... when she returns she will create art that will catapult her to another level ..... and I wasn't mistaken! Her new pieces incorporating cold wax, oils and collage are beautiful.
Leaving Egypt by Mary Ann Lehrer Plansky. See blog, here.
A lot of research goes into Mary Ann's art. I enjoy tracking the ideas and thoughts that gently meander through her blog, culminating in beautiful artworks.
Gabriel Lalonde. See blog, here.
I visit Gabriel Lalonde's blog regularly because I enjoy his work. I detect a playful spirit with a "what if" attitude when it comes to his art.
This exhibition of Hanelore's work is well worth the browse. I enjoyed reading the press release too.
Lawrence Carroll
Ikuko Ando. See more, here.
" I would like to envelop myself ..... to enclose a sense of space, of landscape, within clay. Creating day by day, like putting entries in a diary" -- Ikuko Ando
Lynn Chadwick
"And what is it to work with love?
It is to charge all things you fashion with
a breath of your own spirit."
- Khalil Gibran
Totem by Robyn Gordon. Website, here.
I felt a deep connection to this piece. The person who commissioned it shared just enough of her story for me to recognize similarities in my own life. I could relate to her story and was able to create the totem for the both of us.
"One of the loveliest words in the English language is the word 'inspiration'. It signifies the creative breath. It also has to do with spontaneity, with the arrival of the unexpected image or idea in the mind. Inspiration is the flash of connecting light that suddenly comes from elsewhere and illuminates." - John O'Donohue
