It’s almost one in the morning, the tunes are on eleven, and the bead I’m working on is inter-freaking-galactic. This is the moment as an artist I do all the work to achieve. It’s not about the piece itself, the stellar of the purple, or the magic in the unpredictable chemical reactions between the other colors. It’s about the feeling, the flow that being in the creative zone produces in my entire body. It spreads itself into the moments yet to come – like the actual future – and it sure feels like it started the day I was born. It’s home and it’s moving around at my deliberate fingertips. It has surrendered to being tamed.
I feel the equal combination of honor and mastery, that comes with being one with my craft. I am a breathing expression of it, connected.
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And then, just as I am about to add the next detail – BANG! The bead explodes, like it’s been shot. It’s so loud, but it’s not as audible outside, as it is in my bones. All the air leaves the room, and there is silence – not really the good kind, either. It’s that shock of confusion, and just like accidentally cutting myself in the kitchen, it is the moment before pain. It is exaggerated and strange. I wonder if there will be pain at all, and why there isn’t any yet. It’s a blind free fall before there is a reaction. It is sudden, like I’ve been shot too! And then, just as suddenly, there is a steady voice in my head that says:
“Hey, there are no mistakes in glass.”
Whew! I burst out laughing. Of course there aren’t. It’s art!
This is a creative mantra in glass culture – because it is also in those blissful creative moments that we are pushing the edges of heat and glass compatibility. There are really only a few golden rules working with glass, and the rest is intuitive. You must truly embrace the unknown to create something you’ve never made before. You must accept the risk.
I’m not sure where the phrase originated, or even how far it ripples out beyond my own small circle of teachers and artists, I just know it’s purpose. It’s the instant connection to the immeasurable depth of shared experience, and it is immediate access to a unanimous jury. They vote to let go of the piece of art that was ruined, and choose to start again. There is no anger. There is no mourning. There is no shame. It is simply the default response to let it go, and move forward into the next moment, taking all that cultivated experience with you.
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We say this because after that moment of shock, when the silent free fall ends, the resonant POP or reflex reaction will not be positive. For example, in my own studio, I can pretty much guarantee that something else will get destroyed. The impulse to throw the broken bead is pretty strong, and it’s so hot that anything it lands on melts. Quite practically, there would be a complete disconnection from my creativity, having to clean everything up.
Instead, with this phrase, I am offered not the solution to the problem – that’s impossible, the piece is often gone forever – but the choice to re-direct the force of this powerful human reflex straight into the next thing I create. It gives me the freedom to pick up another mandrel and start the bead again.
“There are no mistakes in glass.” It’s kind of like that benevolent gladiator in a movie. It arrives out of the mist of the moment and stands between you and imminent danger. It is an unmatched protector. Very romantic, indeed – and very real. That gladiator always gives the hero in the story, the opportunity to adventure on freely.
Now how does that translate? Not all of us are glass artists, and not all of us identify with being an artist in any medium. I certainly don’t in the other areas of my career space. It’s work, and there are tasks with spreadsheets, years of study and experience, and a state of the art computer program to decrease the margin of error even further. There’s no hippie creative magic in that. Homeopathy is serious leadership, and my responsibilities as a practitioner extends beyond my patients’ health. I support the movement of healthcare towards sustainability – alternative and allopathic professionals working together. Like any human being, I am very attached to my contributions, outcomes and results. Definitely.
I bet you are too.
Kids, careers, friends and family, our communities – all these things count on us to be on point. Life gets more serious every day. We know the consequences of almost all of our actions because we can Google that information. Even the rocket science isn’t rocket science any more. We are, however, each and every one of us, artists of life. That variable of human creativity will probably never be reliably tracked. It’s still unknown and it is a powerful companion in all of our lives. It connects us, it is shared, and it is a trusted resource.
So how do we make this concept transferable? How do we, in a way, make it sustainable? What blanket phrase can we use to offer ourselves the same relief and redirect in the crunchy moments?
Could we agree on: there are no mistakes in life? Would that mantra work? We already have a well-accepted catch-phrase called “no regrets.” It operates in the same way. Yes, we can experience regrets like a reflex, long after the actual mistake we think we’ve made. We get angry. We get sad. We feel scared. We feel loss of the time spent, wasted even. Both mantras would work, but neither of those statements connect us to that deep support and authority of collective experience.
What we really need here, each of us, in times like these, where life is more and more serious every day, is a phrase that honors the entirety of our unique interests – something that matters to us. This is where you are alone, in your own studio, at your desk, or cooking in your kitchen, but with collective experience and wisdom standing right behind you. Close your eyes and feel that image in your own life.
Gently ask yourself out loud:
“What statement can I say at a time when I am free falling, thinking I have failed or made a mistake?”
What would that steady voice in your head say?
Make no mistake; life will always get behind you, on your terms. You get to pick the words. You get to choose what comes next. You are free.
ADRIENNE YEARDYE
Welcome! I’m Adrienne. I am a skier, a Homeopath, and a glass artist. Life itself is my first love.
Wherever I am, I am governed by a thirst for experience, fearlessness, exploration and the incredible feeling of freedom. That place travels with me. In fact, I am pretty sure it is me. Or, maybe it is just my pleasure to give this cocktail of energies big legs and a giant smile.
