A friend asked me to create a piece depicting the poppy. The poppy is a complex flower with many meanings known for the remembrance of soldiers who have given their lives and fallen in battle. The poem Flander’s Field popularized them as this symbol.
Before this, poppies were symbols of sleep and regeneration in many cultures. On a spiritual level, they symbolize the eternal life of the soul, including reincarnation. They remind us that death of the physical body on Earth is just a step in the evolution of the soul, and while our bodies are merely shells, our souls are eternal.
Pink poppies symbolize compassion and restful sleep.
Thornton Wilder said, “There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning.” And ‘bliss’ is defined as both pleasure and pain; it’s a feeling we must confront many times over and learn to live with as we age and lose people. The pain of loss is a pain that will never diminish because it exists alongside our love and beautiful memories of those who are no longer.
Here we see three poppies and their buds in an endless circle. Three to remember three. This commission was created in memoriam of a late father and twin sons, but more importantly to celebrate their lives. A vase to place fresh cut flowers in whenever thinking of them and wanting to hold them close; Something that would be a small assistance for eyes to see the beauty and joy of time spent together, to smile at or cry, to feel all the feelings… because in honoring and celebrating lives, we find the balance to pain and grief of their loss, and find the inner peace that leads us to happiness.
I learned today that it arrived safely in Washington state.
The Bridge Is Love
2022 cerámica hecha a mano, pintada a mano, esmaltada
24 x 12cm – pieza único
Heartwork Series
[SOLD]
🎶 Tell Me Why – Feroza Cayetano (buy her album on bandcamp)
KAD: A KAD is an acronym, a term, that a Korean adopted person may refer to themselves as (Korean Adoptee.)
Diaspora: The dispersion of any people from their original homeland. It is also important to note the key differences between migration and diaspora. Diaspora refers to a population that shares a common heritage who are scattered in different parts of the world. Migration refers to people moving to different areas in search of a settlement. Korean adoptees are a sub-group of the larger Korean diaspora.
Historical Context and the Impact of South Korean Nationalism:
Not until the 1990s did the South Korean government and South Koreans, both in South Korea and in the diaspora, pay any significant attention to the fates of Korean adoptees. The nation was not prepared for the return of their ‘lost children.’ The numerous adult KADs who visited Korea as tourists every year, in addition to raised public awareness of the KAD diaspora, forced Korea to face a shameful and largely unknown part of their history.
Race and National Control:
Most of these adopted South Korean children grew up in white, upper- or middle-class homes in suburban settings. In the beginning, adoptive families were often told by agencies and ‘experts’ to assimilate their children and make them as much as possible a part of the new culture, thinking that this would override concerns about ethnic identity and origin. Many KADs grew up not knowing about other children like themselves.
Based on experiences of discrimination and feelings of alienation both in South Korea and in their adoptive societies, some KADs have increasingly begun to see themselves as separate and different from both South Korea and the culture of their adoptive countries. As (visible or cultural) ‘minorities’ within both societies, they are dispersed around the world, but they still belong to a unique culture (with multiple subcultures and factions inside) and common identity.
KADs
2021 cerámica hecha a mano, pintada a mano, esmaltada y dorado
6 piezas únicas de diferentes tamaños
Heartwork Series
[Price: 30,000€]
🎶 for so long – Feroza Cayetano (buy her album on bandcamp)
Bamboo is symbolic of strength, flexibility, and health. From its strength we can learn to stand upright and from its flexibility we can learn to adapt to the harshest of circumstances. The combination of virtues teaches us how to find balance and inner peace in our lives, which will in turn improve our health.
Seeking inner peace is a lifelong practice and a process, not a destination we arrive at to stay. Examining, understanding, unlearning learned behaviors while creating new ones (to be the person you would like to be) is heart work and hard work. Letting go of the following things is important to achieving it: engaging with toxic people, excessive self-blame, chasing happiness, staying comfortable, the victim mentality, trying to impress others, pursuing perfection, holding grudges, the quest for material things, and confusing ‘acting tough’ for ‘being strong’ while refusing to ask for help.
This piece is a lantern. It is a vessel to both hold and share light, to illuminate the darkness outside and within.
Inner Peace
2021 cerámica hecha a mano, tallado y pintada a mano, esmaltada y dorado
22 x 12cm pieza única
Heartwork Series
[Price: 6,700€]
Music by: Feroza Cayetano (buy her album on bandcamp)
This infinity water cup is based on a poem I wrote which shares the same title. It’s inspired by my time spent hiking to remote locations and isolated mountain tops on two continents. A handful of days ago it was picked up and flown out of Spain to a new heart and home… a gift for a special someone in their life.
Blue Horizon
2021 cerámica hecha a mano, pintada a mano, esmaltada y dorado
10.5 x 8.5cm pieza única
Heartwork Series
[SOLD]
Music by: Feroza Cayetano (buy her album on bandcamp)
I’m pleased to share that this commissioned work went to its new homes. Blue Horizons is a companion to Blue Horizon, a water cup I shared at my exhibition last November. Both are inspired by a hike in the Spanish Pyrenees and the first poem I ever wrote with the same basic title.
The first cup spoke to water, the mountain I was on, hardship and the lonely trail. Blue Horizons is about the mountains we see in the distance and the trails we know exist, but cannot see, to reach their distant peaks. It’s about being present with where we are, who we’re traveling with and that connection, and appreciating where we’re at in keeping our dreams and future goals in sight.
This pair is shared between two sisters. One cup has gone to Italy and the other remains in Madrid.
See a short video of Blue Horizons and the song paired with it on Instagram here.
Blue Horizons
2022 cerámica hecha a mano, pintada a mano, esmaltada y dorado
10.5 x 8.5cm pieza única
Heartwork Series
[SOLD]
Music by: @feroza.cayetano (buy her album on bandcamp)
The lotus flower is a symbol of purity, spiritual enlightenment, self-regeneration and rebirth. The lotus has a life cycle unlike any other plant. With its roots latched in mud, it submerges every night into the water and miraculously re-blooms the next morning. The flower has a fascinating will to live… a lotus seed can withstand thousands of years without water and is able to germinate over two centuries later.
The lotus is a perfect example of the human condition. Each night our consciousness submerges into sleep, and each morning we awaken reborn with the new day. And each day gives us the choice to be the master and commander of our own destiny, determined by the strength of our will to live and what a life-well-lived means to each of us.
What does your soul say?
Mine says … I am divine.
See a short video of Will To Live with music accompaniment on Instagram.
Will To Live
2021 cerámica hecha a mano, tallado y pintada a mano, esmaltada y dorado
18 x 10cm pieza única
Heartwork Series
[SOLD]
This is an infinity piece in which the carved imagery has no beginning or end flowing from one scene to the next. Depicted are five doves in flight, two carrying an Asian tiger lily over mountains with seawaves crashing against the cliffs that curl and flow into the tail feathers of the birds.
It was conceived after hearing and processing two incredible separate-but-related stories of strength and determination that cross generations in one family.
A commissioned piece made in memoriam for a daughter who lost a mother, and a mother who lost a son. Created in a Chinese style to honor her roots and her mother who was a cliff diver who swam to Hong Kong to China to freedom. The doves were selected to honor her Catholic faith and her beloved son who passed away not long after being born. The son was named after a Saint who also passed away young and was a friend of birds among flowers.
The one who this has been made for and I do not see death as terrible loss but as existing in another space, time and dimension. I do not believe what happens in our lives are fated but what will happen to us all is that people will exit our lives and we will meet them again on the other side. We are all moving in the same direction, to the same destination, together. I find great comfort in that and I hope you do as well.
See a short video of this vessel with musical accompaniment on Instagram.
La separación y el reencuentro están predestinados
2021 cerámica hecha a mano, tallado y pintada a mano, esmaltada y dorado
17cm x 22cm pieza única
Heartwork Series
[SOLD]
ni • ko • ru 