Category Archives: Beauty

Sisyphus

Posted on November 10, 2018 by Carter Gillies

What I believed I was doing in my life before cancer: I had been thinking of the difference between a person with no imagination (surely a figment?) and people who read for fun, who make and look/listen at/to art, who … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Beauty, Creativity, Ephemera, Imagination | 1 Comment

The potter’s place

Posted on June 14, 2017 by Carter Gillies

Something I had written a few years ago: “Being a potter isn’t a ‘job’. It’s being the nexus of a very special community that forms to create and sustain beauty in the humble corners of daily life. Every time you … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Beauty, Ceramics, Creative industry, Creativity, Imagination, Pottery | Leave a comment

Recovering the Mojo

Posted on February 3, 2017 by Carter Gillies

You have perhaps heard me moan about the pitfalls of ‘signature style’ over the years, but it perhaps takes an extraordinary circumstance and not a little courage to be willing to change. We can get too comfortable with our personas … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Beauty, Creativity, Ephemera, Imagination, metacognition, Pottery | 12 Comments

The Darwinian fate of Dreams, redux

Posted on January 11, 2017 by Carter Gillies

My blog just blew up yesterday as someone shared an essay written some 4 years ago. Thanks whoever you are! Its a good essay about the precarious lives creative people have, written after my worst ever sale. I encourage you … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Arts advocacy, Arts education, Beauty, Creative industry, Creativity, Ephemera, Imagination, metacognition | Leave a comment

Truth and meaning

Posted on January 5, 2017 by Carter Gillies

“There’s a fire backstage, the clown comes out to warn the audience. Laughter and applause. They think it’s a joke! The clown repeats his warning. The fire grows hotter; the applause grows louder. That’s how the world will end,” Wittgenstein … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Beauty, Imagination, metacognition | Leave a comment

More like Shakespeare

Posted on December 14, 2016 by Carter Gillies

I was imagining that some folks who actually do well selling art would take my last post as an indictment of how they got there. The post had some general observations and conclusions that could be applied widely, but as … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Arts education, Beauty, Creative industry, metacognition | 2 Comments

How not to get crushed by a poor weekend selling art

Posted on December 12, 2016 by Carter Gillies

A dear friend just had a miserable weekend not selling art work and I couldn’t sleep without writing what I understood about poor sales. This is the letter I sent my friend, but maybe it can make a difference to … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Beauty, Creative industry, metacognition | 2 Comments

Understanding and Knowing

Posted on November 17, 2016 by Carter Gillies

I saw it, briefly, last night. Or rather I heard it. The settling dusk making my trips out to the kiln carrying freshly glazed pots even more treacherous, my nose firmly to the grindstone of beating full darkness and the … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Beauty, Creativity, Ephemera, Imagination, metacognition | 3 Comments

Does art even matter?

Posted on November 15, 2016 by Carter Gillies

Sigh. Like for many of you, I am supposing, something significant about the world changed last Tuesday. Values for society and our communities were suddenly brought into question. Many seeming certainties showed the fractures of doubt. Not that we believed … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Arts advocacy, Beauty, Creative industry, Creativity, Imagination, metacognition, Pottery | 1 Comment

Beauty is axiomatic

Posted on September 12, 2016 by Carter Gillies

I just read a friend’s essay on a class she is taking described as “Beastly Beauty: The Value That Astounds, Confounds, Perplexes and Vexes Us”. Its great that folks are thinking about these issues! I totally wish I could be … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Beauty, Imagination, metacognition, Wittgenstein | 3 Comments