Splatters of Clay

I read once that Rodin, the sculpture who made the Thinker, would carry clay around with him and do little impromptu sculptures of people. Then give these sculptures to these people. I did this once for Robert Michael Pyle, after I heard him speak at USU. I always remember him as that guy who loves butterflies and slugs, and made underwear obscene in whole new ways. He is fantastic! I first discovered plasticine clay when I was about five years old. My older step bother had made a candle with clay wrapped around it. I would steel little pieces of clay from his art project. The bit of clay I played with was no larger than a pencil erasure. Since I have no skill whatsoever for theft, I as of course caught. Why my brother has many faults, I must give him tremendous credit here. On my sixth birthday, he gave me a pack of clay. Joy beyond measure! And the beginning of a new life for me. A life that included many days of carrying clay around in my pocket. Making a hand, or face, or quic...

The other day, I wrote a little bit about Victor Frankl. I found this terrific video of him. He talks about how we must aim for a much higher standard then the one we want in order to achieve the one we want. It reminds me of a quote attributed to Michelangelo, the famous sculptor (and one of my heroes). "The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark." https://www.ted.com/talks/viktor_frankl_youth_in_search_of_meaning

I remember me at six years old completely overwhelmed by sadness and feeling totally alone. I sat on the playground unmoved for all of recess despite my friend’s effort to rouse me into playing. This shadow, this dark overpowering sadness, this depression ebb and flows through my life. It’s always present, sometimes very far away and small, sometimes huge, big, and right on top of me, but always there. A couple of years ago, while furiously working in my garden, feeling dark and sad, I got mad. I said something like, “fine, I will just be depressed for the rest of my life.” Suddenly, I felt better. I actually laughed out loud.  I finally accepted that this depression was just part of my life and would likely always be with me. Since then the depression has stayed mostly quiet and even on bad days it did not shut me down. This past weekend it crushed me. I could not eat or enjoy anything, and weariness overwhelmed me. The weariness of depression is not like physical tiredne...

I found these cool little jars to house some of my agates. They are so fun to hold up to the light. The variations in density, color, and form, make them glow in different ways even when exposed to the same light source. I found it challenging to really capture this beauty in picture. I studied photography as part of my fine arts degree. I learned just enough to realize that I am not good at taking pictures. But last night, I played around with different backgrounds and light sources, and found a way to capture the beauty I could see.   This is probably the best photo I have taken in my life. Victor Frankl (1985) suggests that you cannot achieve success by trying to achieve success. To achieve success, you must focus on another person or on something greater than yourself. Last night I forgot about trying to take a good picture and just tried to capture how that light brought out the glow in these rocks. I look at this picture today and it takes my breath away. I find myself...

I really want this to be a blog that is more about art. Why art? Art is probably the oldest and most consistent part of my life. More than family, religion or anything except for maybe pooping, eating, and sleeping. Though, I still remember college days when art would consume me. I would reach that transcendent state. Mazlow calls it self-actualization. Those in positive psychology would call it flow. Time seems to become nonexistent. All other needs just fall away and get ignored; sleeping, eating, even pooping just are not important. That place, that state is almost indescribable. Its feelings of joy, freedom, possibility, and a feeling of power. Like you can solve any problem, conquer any mountain, and create anything. Quite simply it is one of the greatest feelings in the world. It’s a feeling I miss often. I think I recall it so vividly from my days as a young artist in college because the feeling was so intense and present so often. Writing about it now, I am tempted to...

Last weekend, we went to the coast. We arrived at one of our favorite beaches, Fogarty Creak just a little after high tide. As the waves slowly pulled back more and more, they revealed these little hidden treasures. Agates! In the hundreds. My wife and oldest son were off hunting far up the beach. I barely saw either of them. My other three kids played on this rock ledge, setting up their camp chairs as if they ruled the beach, finding different ways of climbing up the rock. I stayed close, trying to always keep them in site. Consequently, my own agate hunting ground remained confined to a relatively small area. In fact a few times, I simply sat on the ground and picked up only those agates within reach.  I still found some real beauties and a lot of them. At one point a woman and her husband asked me, “what is everyone looking for?” There were probably twenty or thirty people agate hunting all along the beach. I told the woman to hold out her hand. I took a small handful o...

President Thomas S. Monson died last night. It is always sad to see a great person leave this world, especially one who has served so long and given so much. My first thought at hearing of his passing was, “I bet he was so happy to see his wife again. What a wonderful reunion that must have been.” It makes me grateful for prophets and the words they give to us. The modern words we hear over the pulpit and the ancient words found in scripture. One of my favorite passages says, “…the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life.” – Alma 40: 11. We all go back to God when we die. How we lived our life will determine the work and learning we must do on the other side. President Monson did great things over here and I am sure he will do great things over there. He will be missed. Our Savior, Jesus Christ lives and directs this church, not mortal men. The ...