On a warm Spring day last May, I drove over seven hours to reunite with the kiln I used to create fused glass art nearly 16 years ago. The significance of this occasion is that I didn’t realize how short the path was to get back to what I loved, creating glass art. The journey away from those early days seemed long and filled with bumps, twists, and turns, but somehow it was driving to Grants Pass and back home again that brought me back to where I started many years ago.
Author Sir Terry Pratchett says “Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.” The idea behind his quote is that leaving and coming back again changes both you and what you left behind. My glass craft has changed as much as I have in the last 15 years. Although it feels somewhat familiar, what I created back then is only a tiny fragment of what I’m working on now.
It’s not just about how my perspective has changed or how my experiences have shaped who I am today, it’s much more than that. The best way to express this is to say even when I wasn’t creating fused glass art, I was dreaming of it. It was living inside me and growing alongside me.
During a meditation exercise in 2021, I looked into my past and saw how my artistic nature, experiences, creativity, and relationships were all connected to each other, and to my future return to the fused glass arts. It was a profound moment that has guided me back to my heart home and will always stay with me.
I’m grateful for this revelation and hope other artists like me can see how stepping away from creating is part of their journey. When it’s time to return to where you started you won’t be afraid, embarrassed, or saddened by the time you missed, you’ll be ecstatic to return, armed with all that has been dormant within you.
I’m so excited to be creating glass art again! It feels like my kiln and I are childhood friends picking up right where we left off 16 years ago.
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