The coronavirus has taken over the world, including that of online ceramics. My mailbox is overflowing with cancellations. In the US, the international ceramics festival NCECA has been cancelled, many museums in Europe are closed and cultural life has also been paused in my neck of the woods, the Netherlands.
I find it a strange sensation, when I wake up I hear the birds singing in the garden. The dunnock is whistling at the top of his lungs until he is chased away by a screaming robin. The blackbird does not bother and cheerfully sings uninterrupted on top of my roof. Spring has begun!
But the streets are quiet, the shelves empty in the supermarket. I notice that it also influenced my work ethics.. and not in a good way.
How do you break from this negative spiral? Just go back to work and follow transgalactic advice!
Advice from the Transgalactic Guide
In times of uncertainty, I always look for advice. And the best advice I’ve ever found is in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy:“don’t Panic.”
[..] the Hitchhiker’s Guide has already supplanted the great Encyclopedia Galactica as the standard repository of all knowledge and wisdom, for though it has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least wildly inaccurate, it scores over the older, more pedestrian work in two important respects.
First, it is slightly cheaper; and second, it has the words DON’T PANIC inscribed in large friendly letters on its cover. (Douglas Adams, 1979)
Okay, the advice of our government (RIVM) is extremely important to follow in times of the coronavirus. But once you’ve done that, you can get started. Don’t panic and working with clay is the best remedy, well at least for me.
Don’t Panics, Online Ceramics
Cultural life may be paused at the moment, digital life continues. I made less progress this week than I intended, but I added something to my webshop.
In the next few weeks, I’m going to continue with it calmly and without panic. Testing new glazes, throwing clay, firing, photographing and displaying in the webshop.
Online ceramics are here and will be here in the future.. and in the coming weeks we all have more time for it…
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I agree with you, I think that the covid take us simply in the important things of real life, different than this absurd kind of life full of objects and duties for growing everything with many. You hear birds singing instead of noise of cars: I hope it will go on, in a better way for all. You have fine colors on the object, it seems the heat and eye of a bird… Have a good life. (sorry for mistakes)
Thank you, Paola. You are so right, mindfulness is always important especially in these times.
My English isn’t perfect either… but I try 🙂
Regards,
Daniel