i remember watching a Harvard violinist stand in the middle of a church and play a solo by heart, from the heart, and move with every note. I will never forget the movement, which struck me more than the music he played. just watching him made me feel like a part of the performance, convinced me of his sincerity and belief in the music he played and the instrument he used.
I've also witnessed this when throwing on the wheel- my really great instructors have this movement with the turn of the wheel and the lift of raising clay and shaping it, little nods and elbow movements and grunts that match their actions and the shape of the clay. I know my own eyes glaze over as I study the shape of the rotating clay and my head is always in movement, looking at the clay from all directions. Sometimes I close my eyes and feel only with my hands the various lumps and memorizing where they are, where more pressure needs to be applied. little graces.
at the SOFA on saturday, we watched a glass artist spinning some glass. I noted that he too had movements like a violinist, as he constantly spun the hot glass at a steady pace, his shoulders would roll back and his head would follow, and then forward again, as he gently shaped the glass, his graceful body movements making a graceful piece of glass.
there is something about art, something whole and physical, and transcending... something that makes ordinary people, people who are gawky perhaps when walking or kicking a soccer ball, to suddenly become graceful conduits when enveloped in their art.
may I be such a conductor of art, that it may flow through me with no pride or ego to stop it or sully it, and may it transform my being into something beautiful, and leave me as pure as it came. may I be like water, a smooth and free conduit of electricity, of art, let it pass through me to electrify something, someone else. may I be worthy, and have the skills, to make even one graceful movement when overcome by art.
may I.
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