Hand-built clay sculpture, Drawing Down the Moon, by Tammy Vitale of Tam’s Originals

[written June 10 for June 15]

"When you get past making labels for things, it is possible to combine and transform elements into new things.  Look at things until their import, identity, name, use and description have dissolved."  Corita

"When we give names to things, we often assume that everything that goes by that name is alike.

"Assignment

"Take something in nature – two dandelions – and look a them for five minutes, listing how they are different from each other.  Take two leaves from the same tree and do the same thing.  Take two peas from the same pod and do the same thing.  Nothing is the same.  no thing is the same.  Everything is itself and one of a kind.

"Genius is looking at things in an unhabitual way.

"Work in areas where you are unsure, in places you’ve not been before." Corita Kent and Jan Steward, Learning By Heart:  Teachings to Free the Creative Spirit

"One concept that interferes with the play of the imagination and the open search for meaning is the misconception that life in time is somehow analogous to a map of a portion of space.  Maps are extremely powerful instruments for orientation, direction, and prediction; however, they are not identical to the reality to which they refer, and if taken as such they work against exploration, wonder, and discovery.

"…A map offers fixed points on a circumscribed portion of the surface of the world.  These points are all in exact and consistent relation to one another.  Out of the vast number of items actually contained in that territory, only the locations of an extremely few select items from a few categories of items are displayed….

"…Our fear of running off the map, wandering off into the unknown and getting lost in physical territory is transposed in creative enterprises to concern about running out of imagination, running out of patience, or running out of courage….

"We fear getting lost.  We believe that we are not lost when we know where something else is and how far we are from it….if we feel lost without the familiar, without guidelines, without interior orientation, we will never stray far from home….Pleasant, but certainly not an adventure.

"A MAP IS NOT A JOURNEY"  Peter London, No More Secondhand Art:  Awakening the Artist Within