Books, cracks and ducks

Hello everyone. Have you had lovely Easter? I caught a bad cold, and had been in the sick bed for three and a half days. Shame, but three mornings from Good Friday to Easter Sunday, we had had snow. So I guess I didn't miss too much fun. When I felt a bit better, I started reading. One was Grayson Perry by Jacky Klein. It mainly consists of Perry's candid comments on his work with the photographs of the works. What always strikes me when I read the interviews or listen to him on video is his honesty and candidness. His down-to-earth approach and common sense make me almost feel that transvestite is ordinary thing after a while. But I know it isn't. That's his spell. I read this book for my essay. Transvestite still is one of the things I don't understand.    

Another book I almost finished was From The Beast to the Blonde by Marina Warner. Folklore and myth have been my interests since I was child. The reason I chose sociology for my BA in Tokyo was that I wanted to read them in the context of the society and culture, in which the stories were told and retold. My ceramic works have been inspired by folklore and myths. My favourite theme is metamorphosis. This books analyses European folklore and fairy tales, which were based on the former initially. It is engaging and entertaining read.

So I have enjoyed reading lately. Nowadays I only read when I am in a sick bed. I usually don't have a chunk of time to enjoy reading voluminous books. So once a while catching cold is not all a bad thing.

Yesterday, I returned to the studio to start my new work. After two hours, I was too tired to carry on. Today I had another two hours there again. I have to build up my strength again. 

From side

from top

The parts of sculptures I have shown you before became dry; I loaded them in a kiln in the studio yesterday. I also made more of them in grey clay. They are drying on a shelf right now. While I was making one of them before Easter, Navy, the sweet curious student asked me 'Are the cracks meant to be there?' Yes, Navy. They are meant to be there. I felt all other undergraduates in the room had some collective sigh of relief. 

I love cracks. They make my world move. Cracks are thunders from the sky or earthquakes on the earth in my own world. I hope I could show what they would become as sculptures. Then they will understand all meaning of cracks I am making. As they are the final year students, they may not be able to see the final pieces.     

Ducks sleep under the dormant tree. 

The duck in the park are usually busy making nests and bullying each other at this time of the year. But not this year. They slept away even though I walked past behind them. Sleeping duckies.