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By doriluthy, September 29, 2007 7:44 pm

Oh I’m a happy wife! My hairy smart sweet Dustin is fast asleep in our warm cozy bed, wrapped in clean flannel sheets… He landed about 3 hours ago and I couldn’t have been more excited to see him.

It amazes me… that after 9 years I still get giddy when I see him walk through the arrival gate at the airport. How is this possible to still really really really want to be with someone that much, after 9 (!) years?

He is this really profound and complex thing in my life, but when I try to explain it to people, it ends up sounding so simplistic, or corny. Example: It’s like walking on the beach, watching and listening to the waves lap up on the sand around your feet, and you know that the waves will never stop their flowing in and out around you, and every time the water comes rushing in it is a smile and a comfort, that eternal action… Dustin is that flowing of water, constant and comforting. We’ve been through challenges, and we’ve come such a long way in our learning about how to treat each other with respect.

While he has been away these last 3 weeks, people keep saying to me- oh isn’t it nice to have some time to yourself? Yes it is! Especially for the first 3-4 days… but then it just gets really lonely. And no matter how I filled my days with activities and people, I come home to an empty apartment and cook dinner for only me.

What am i trying to say? I don’t know how or why love works for us. We really want to be with each other, I guess, and so we do things to keep learning how to make being with one another easier- how to comfort each other during stressful times (we both ask for different ingredients to this recipe). How to keep it light, even in the dark. But also how to be respectful, to extend trust and to be trusting… It’s like the Virtues Project, and right here in my house is a small incubator of good behavior that I can practice all the time with my husband, and if I get something wrong, I can see it and feel it in the deepest ways. Dustin encourages me to be my best, to ask questions, and help me see through the fog that is the rest of life. He doesn’t let me settle for a passionate-less life, cause he genuinely seems to believe that I’m really great and deserve the best (silly!). And in return I hope that I extend the same to him, although maybe he would say about me: that she cooks a mean lasagna, and always knows what to write in birthday cards to my relatives!

This trip away, dear Dustin, has been the hardest yet. And ironically during these last 3 weeks (why now? I’m so lonely!) I’ve had so many unexpected conversations with people who were wondering how you and I have managed so long, and what does it mean that we are still “in love” after all this time? I’ve thought and thought, tried to come up with profound answers, words to live by, the secret to it all… but I guess really we are both so blessed to have found each other, and thank you for wanting it as much as I do. Happy Anniversary, sweetpea. I’d like to keep you around for a while longer.

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By doriluthy, September 21, 2007 11:54 pm

I just got back from a talk at Emily Carr Institute, my old stomping grounds. The Northwest Ceramics Foundation hosted Patti Warashina, a ceramic artist/professor from University of Washington, to give a slide show and discussion of her work. She’s been going at it for 40+ years, and oh man, am I inspired. The talk itself was a bit rushed, with perhaps overgeneralized explanations of her work- but understandably though, since she covered so much ground, literally showing us work from the past 40 years. She does figurative pieces, generally dealing with feminine/political subject matters. The large dream-like figures are engaging with meaning-laden objects, and she applies her under-glazing with such a painterly quality it makes the realist in me sigh. They are really lovely, really complex.

I am most intrigued by her very large scale pieces, as I see my current work evolving in that direction (both size/subject). The large pieces are made in sections, and the seam lines where she matches pieces show- in fact they often seem to be overemphasized with glazes or at least there is no attempt to hide them. Very smart, really. As that is one of the questions when making work in sections, to show or to attempt to hide the seams. There are so many things I would like to pick her brain about, or to spend time with her work and try to absorb some of the efforts she has put into making the hundreds of sculptures over the years.

I came away feeling inspired- did I say that already? For a number of reasons, though. She raised 2 kids(!) through full time work and teaching. She seems limitless in her quest to create; her work has flowed from one subject to another over the years, styles have changed, methods have changed, she has even done painting and printing in that time. She has just kept going over the years. To me, she is a true example of a dedicated artist.

And yet even in my inspired state, I can’t seem to get a question out of my head, a thought that has been lingering for weeks (months?), and tonight’s talk amplified it even more in the murky waters of my brain… Is it enough? Is it enough to be making art for one’s whole life? Is this contribution to the planet enough, especially considering the current state of affairs? Does it matter?

Oh dear.

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By doriluthy, September 19, 2007 5:48 pm

My hands are coated in a fine dusting of white clay. I am sure there is some in my hair, and there is more than a little on the back of my jeans. It’s a cone 6 porcelainious clay, and I am building 2 foot tall structures using slab and coil methods. There is nothing functional about these pieces.
All I can say is thank goodness for drywall putty.

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By doriluthy, September 17, 2007 1:06 pm

I just got back from a little stroll to the bank and post office. As soon as I stepped out the door and turned my face into the sun, I realized the change is happening, and Autumn is arriving! The noon time air has noticeably turned cooler, the smell has changed to the crisp and fresh of autumn, and the leaves are starting to float to the ground. I am so inspired to stay at home and bake pies and breads, sew woolen skirts and vests to wear for the cool season, and wash summer clothes to put away and make way for winter gear… And it’s only mid-September! I do loving living on the west coast where we have seasons lasting for many, many weeks. It makes me so happy to know that Autumn will last until November.

It is my favorite season, and I always feel like a tiny part of me is transported to a different era. A time where people took efforts to make things for themselves and their friends and family; a time when we would value the process to be just as important as the end result…

On our ride back from the Lake-side retreat this weekend, my friend Ralph told me about an event he attended while visiting his daughter in Ontario this summer: the summer fair! Livestock shows, home-made pie and jam contests, a garden vegetable contest (size and colour), live music and entertainment, etc… It sounds so lovely, and I can only imagine charming ladies wearing calico aprons cutting pieces of pie for a judge, children running around with cotton candy smeared on their faces, young people showing off their prize sheep or cows that they have raised for months- a taste of what life might have been a few decades earlier, and still exists in this little place in Ontario. Ralph told me that people come from near and far to attend this event, and that doesn’t surprise me at all. As quickly as our society has changed in the past few decades, I can understand why so many would travel great distances to attend an event where they can connect with people and food and community, a chance to experience the slow life that still exists in pockets of our fast-paced/tech-based society.

Baked portobello mushrooms stuffed with walnuts, onions and parmesan cheese, with wild rice and a spinach salad on the side. Oh Autumn! Bring it on!

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By doriluthy, September 13, 2007 4:54 pm

This coming weekend is a retreat for the Eastside Culture Crawl’s board and artists. This is our second summer retreat, and a great opportunity to spend some time hacking away at details that just get passed over during the year, little things that there isn’t time or man-power to develop, but things that need some time to spend brainstorming and hashing out. Last year we spent the retreat working on updating our Policy and Procedures, going through our bylaws and Constitution to make sure they still reflect the Crawl as it is today. We’ve been in existence for 11 years now, so as things grow and change, so our written documents need to reflect this.

This year’s retreat theme? Long Term Planning- Envisioning our future. It is going to be a great chance to really build our vision of where we want to go in the next 5 years, and formulate some plans on how to get there. Our Executive Director said to me the other day, “you know, since we hit 10 years last year, I started this year wondering to myself- what’s next?, where are we going now? Do we just keep doing the Crawl like this?”

Oh boy! Those are the same questions I seem to be asking myself about my life on a weekly basis! And you know, it just may be a good time to do an “envisioning our future” retreat weekend with Dustin. To hash over all the committees that we have set up in our life, and make some plans about where we want to take our lives in the upcoming years. There are so many things that we just DO, decisions we make, without really stepping back and asking how this relates to the big picture- and it seems like developing a little map/plan would be a good thing considering the recent developments and ongoing questions we have in our life: Dustin turned 30 last month, we are perm residents of Canada now, what about his career, my career, KIDS?!, our housing situation, etc…

Anyway, Dustin is in China for the next 2-3 weeks, so not much can be done now. But in the mean time I’m preparing an agenda, getting a budget together, oh details!

Oh honey- I’m Planning.