ONE MORE TRAVELOGUE

With many thanks to Diego, Marta and Esteban

MAGNET

This happened just about two years ago when hitchhiking in Costa Rica I got picked up by a man called Diego - the strange object was in his car.

I do not know exactly what it was - I recall it as a big ceramic sphere with a quadrangular opening in the centre. It looked extraterrestrial and to my eyes divine.
"Where did you get it from?, Who made it?" I opened my mouth to ask, but closed it without saying a word - at the time I did not know enough Spanish.

Esteban Boasso: "Solar Window"
Ceramic-raku with iron and wood base.

TO SEE MORE WORKS FROM ESTEBAN BOASSO click HERE

KEY-WORDS OPEN DOORS

"I want to learn."
I do not know how many times did I repeat that phrase during our ride. I did not know too many sentences in that still too new a language. Yet Diego heard me. He dropped me off on a crossroad, gave me a map and a short letter directed to his friends - a family of the Chorotega people in a small indigenous village that practised pottery. I stayed in Guaitil for two months; while clay was taming my hands, people taught my tongue to speak their language.

SECOND CHANCE

After I had left Guaitil, I came to meet Diego again when payed a visit to his home in San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica. Diego was a potter and in his home I found many fascinating objects while seeking for the one that had once drawn me. ... when I finally saw it, I asked without hesitation: "Who made it..." Many questions followed and Diego understood me, and answered. Yes, I spoke Spanish, not too fluently perhaps, but at least I could express myself without stuttering on every word.

DISTANT DESTINATION

The journey in search of the mysterious artists took me one year, ten months and eleven days. During the time I rarely had a chance to pick up clay. Yet I never forgot where I was going: from the day that Diego had answered my question, my destination became Mendoza, Argentina.

IMPOSSIBLE DREAMS

The closer I got to Mendoza, the more unrealistic my "wandering craftsman" plan seemed. I mean, what I wanted was for the artists to become my teachers - yet who was I to ask that and what did I have to offer in return. Dreams can be so attractive when distant and unreachable. Trying to make them reality could in an instant shatter the fantasy.

ARRIVAL *
*this part comes from a letter I wrote to my my friend Joelle.

I had spent nearly two years on the road before I came to the doorstep of Marta Lucas and Esteban Boasso and to tell the truth had very little hope that they would say "yes" to my plea. I had nothing to show them and nothing but my stories to offer them in return for their time. The materials, I said, I would recycle - so there would be no cost. I also said that I would not need too much attention, just the opportunity to be around the magical objects and in contact with clay would be enough. And I wanted to be there every day...because there was not much time I had before setting off again. ...and to top that I did not have a place to stay.

So what were the chances of that happening - a complete stranger wanting to invade someone´s life wanting everything from them in return for nothing...the day before I had to have my second meeting with Marta Lucas, where my proposal was to be discussed, I felt sad - I thought there was no way...

And then when the day came and until the very moment I stopped worrying but became a quiet witness to how generous life can be and stood in awe in front of the Everything that started happening.


INSPIRED

Watching,
Listening,
Learning,
Understanding,
Practicing,
...and more practicing.

I am touching clay,

or perhaps it is the other way around -

it is clay that touches me.

I see it shapeshifting...

and in its forms it reveals to me
the sacred secret of my inner self.

Marta Lucas "Primigenials"

Group of sculptures. Mixted techniques.

Ceramic, hand-molded with oxide and enamel patines and hammered iron.

TO SEE MORE WORKS FROM MARTA LUCAS click HERE