"Life is a balance between hanging on and letting go." - Rumi

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I am collaborating with Ceramic Artist, Lyn Harper. She has a decades long project in which she has distributed ceramic artwork throughout the world. In 1980, she created an installation comprised of hundreds of tiny, ceramic cubes that was displayed at the Hartford Art School. After the dismantling of the installation, each time she or someone she knew travelled, the traveler was given the task of leaving a single ceramic cube anywhere that traveler found to be interesting or meaningful. They are currently in hundreds of locations everywhere, including the Egyptian pyramids, Greek and Japanese temples, ancient churches, Icelandic volcanoes, and the rainforest of Costa Rica.

 

For the Carries Weight performance art project, Lyn has created a new series of miniature ceramic art sculptures, specifically for distribution on highpoints.

 

Lyn’s miniature sculptures are created from high fire clay, and the glaze is made from local minerals. They are ambiguous cubes made by hand, easily becoming part of the natural environment.

 

Carrie was inspired by the tradition on the Camino de Santiago, a long distance trail across northern Spain, of bringing a rock from home and leaving it at the Montes de Mercurio. This practice is meant to represent letting go of a burden. It can be powerful, and even magical, for many.

 

In Carries Weight, leaving a miniature sculpture at a highpoint is meant to be an act symbolizing contemplative inquiries such as: How do we know when it is time to set down the weight that we carry? How do we know when it is time to pass the weight on to others? How do we know when to share our power and influence? How do we know when it is time to let go? When do we grow by carrying more weight? When do we grow by lightening our load? What balance best helps and serves others? What balance best helps ourselves? How do we know when it is time to ask for and accept help?

 

Leaving a miniature sculpture at a natural highpoint may also serve to create a connection between places, such as “home” and “away”, both literally and figuratively. It may offer an examination of “here” and “there”, opposites, joined in connection. It may be in honor or remembrance of a person or an idea.

 

These miniature sculptures are works of art. They were created to be beautiful. Beauty, like everything, can be temporal. Even things that are beautiful must eventually be let go.