This piece is all that remains of a series of bowls which I have titled in hindsight Frustration, Disappointment and Failure. I saw an art project in a magazine in which art was epoxied to a bowl. Intrigued I began hunting for the right bowls- and hunted and hunted- never finding what I was looking for and finally trying some other ones. I gathered supplies and spent an early spring afternoon painting very stinky chemicals over art and photos. And wound up with smelly, yellowed bowls with grass clippings adhered to them. They out-gassed for months and then started cracking- I finally tossed them. So I went back to the drawing board, sought out more bowls, and never satisfied, ultimately settled for these. I began compiling photos and one day got together with friends from my Book Club and each of us made one. Then the project- bowls and box of epoxy- sat in my china cabinet for years. Finally, years later, I did make the Hope Bowl and even later I gave away the extra bowls and toxic epoxy, bought Modpodge, and finished these two.
There is a time to persist and a time to let go. And after years and years of feeling unhappy every time I looked at these bowls sitting undone and of feeling obligated to finish my obsession, I did learn to accept frustration, disappointment, and failure.
Eventually I did make bowls, pottery bowls, at Powderhorn Park. But I had to let this dream die first.