Dreams achieved and those to come
Some years ago, I was fortunate enough to receive an email from a Japanese woman who lived in the United States. For some reason, we had got into contact with one another via social media. When she was still living in Japan, she became quite enamored with one of my pieces, and after purchasing it, she continued to take great care of it upon moving to America. What is more, having moved overseas, when feeling down or somewhat upset, she used what I had created to eat from, and that both strengthened and raised her spirits. Subsequently, she married and was blessed with children, and she wrote to me that she felt very grateful for having encountered my pottery. As to the email itself, it also brought me strength as well as a tear to my eye.
If I recall my own background, upon visiting art galleries when I was young, I was fortunate enough to encounter a number of pieces in the glass showcases that gave me a thrill. In particular, I remember some plates that were rather run-of-the-mill. However, through the power of the potter’s wheel and the austere elegance of the glazes that were used on them, those same pieces were very much alive with a sense of emotion. I looked in awe on such things and hoped above all that I could recreate something similar in my own professional future. Being truthful, my dream was that I would achieve something if one of my own works instilled within even a single human heart the courage to go forward with the prospect of enjoying their tomorrow.
Obviously, considering the set of circumstances that I described initially, that dream of my youth was achieved. Upon realizing that, I felt very satisfied that over the years I continued in my profession even through the toughest of times. Additionally, knowing such things represented the start of my searching out new professional goals.
Subsequent to the episode that I described above, a few years later, I unexpectedly ran into the same woman. To offer some more detail, her and her family had come to Tokyo for a holiday, and the date in question just happened to coincide with the last day of one of my own exhibitions in the city. Anyway, despite the tight nature of her schedule, she turned up after having seen an update that I had posted on social media. Apparently, her husband strongly encouraged her to come and see me. In the resulting atmosphere in which the woman once again expressed her gratitude to me for the pottery I had created, I also felt very fortunate for having encountered customers through my work like her. Indeed, I felt myself tearing up.
To wit, on that day I decided on a new professional goal. Namely, I wanted to increase the number of customers of my work who were so obviously moved by it.
Finally, I should mention that in a professional sense, I have never really wanted to be either especially famous or to see my own creations sell at particularly high prices. Indeed, when doing my job over the years, I think it has been important for me to keep searching for clues so that I could produce run-of-the-mill but nevertheless very special works, like those I saw in the glass cases at various museums back when I was young. To make that argument differently, professionally speaking, I don’t believe I will be capable of leaving behind a legacy, unless I am able to retain a sense of sincerity each time that I take my clay to hand.
