Goldin - Flowstones: beautiful creations from polymer clay

THE MODERN WORLD CLAIMS OUR ATTENTION AT ALL TIMES. WE ARE SIMULTANEOUSLY FASCINATED and overwhelmed by an endless stream of distractions. However, our deepest and truest selves are fashioned out of personal thoughts, feelings, sensations, emotions, and imagination. To be fully human, we must connect with a more deliberate and natural pace, a more mindful approach to daily life.

Flowstones are smooth rocks embellished with polymer clay to enhance, rather than hide, their connection to nature. The acts of observing and creating these objects allow us to be absorbed by what we are doing or seeing. In contrast to computers and electronic toys, which encourage us to strive towards the future or get lost in the past, they ground us in the now.

Our lives move quickly, yet often we are so busy reflecting, discussing, photographing, and sharing that we dont stop to simply experience the present moment. Whether meditating on a Flowstone, enjoying the beauty of its shape and color, touching its smooth surface, or allowing ourselves to get lost in the process of making one, Flowstones can slow us down and take us inward.

WHETHER INTROVERTED OR EXTROVERTED, EACH OF US OCCUPIES BOTH AN INNER AND AN OUTER WORLD.
The latter is social, verbal, and linear. We write the story of our lives as we live with others, in real time, communicating, learning, and acting. We show our public persona through the decisions that we make: what we wear, with whom we spend our time. We have some control over the impressions we project, and often we worry about how we are perceived. But this facade, though it may reflect our internal life, has no depth of its own. Our inner world, by contrast, has no words. Rather, it is sensation, instinct, and emotion. From this private and personal space flows art, music, and innovation.

Some of us feel more comfortable in one world or the other, but all of us must straddle these two realities: at times with ease, and at times with difficulty. Once we have left early childhood, a period during which our inner and outer worlds are one and the same, we all struggle with how much of our internal lives we can risk showing to the world.

Flowstones, by their very nature, reflect both our inner and outer lives. We start with something that has existed for eons under the earths surface, before being shaped by wind and water. Accepting and working with this core, we add our own personality in the form of color, texture, and surface design. And the result is that each Flowstone, like each person, is singular and identical to no other.

I LIVE IN ONE OF THE LARGEST CITIES IN THE WORLD, SO FINDING PEACE AND QUIET CAN BE A CHALLENGE.
Yet, research and our own common sense tell us that as human beings we need not only social connection, but also solitary time, alone with ourselves, to find out who we truly are. Living socially is gratifying but addictive. We judge ourselves against others in a frenzy of comparisons, good and bad, until we lose sight of our true inner selves.

One way to restore the connection to our inner life is through the twin paths of nature and art. For me, Flowstones marry the two. There is something healing in the shapes, forms, and colors of nature. Nothing clashes. Take a walk through nature and you will see flowers, leaves, stones, lichen, moss, feathers. You will see bright and muted colors in every shade: pale pinks, dark greens, and deep purples. Yet everything goes together. As artisans, we strive to make beauty, and nature is our greatest teacher.

When making art, I allow chance and nature to inform my work. Rather than presume that I can have complete command over the finished piece, I try to let the clay express itself, constructing by hand and feeling my way along. I am immersed in the process but not completely in control of the result.

What I subscribe to in my art also informs the way I live my life: doing my best while not planning too far ahead, taking one step at a time and seeing how it goes. This balance between letting go (wandering among the details) and running the show (keeping half an eye on my goals) is the key to my happiness. I believe that striving for perfection, whether in the creation of art or in living ones life, is bound to fail. Exploring ceramics, yarn, paper, wood, or polymer, allowing each medium to speak for itself, and being open to everything that I hear and observe keeps me centered. I am true to myself by being true to each moment. Although I allow myself to dream and desire beyond what I can see in front of me, I am never quite planning the future. Rather, I am building it up day by day.

I was once asked to think of a place that I associate with happiness and contentment. I came up with two places: the beach and my art studio. I find freedom and solace in nature, as well as a connection to my body and soul. In the art studio, I can explore my inner life and find expressions that stand for me in the outside world and connect me with others. This is the nature of art, and Flowstones are deeply rooted in this source. They come from my unconscious, unarticulated dabbling with clay and with nature, color, and form. They satisfy my internal balance.

But how do Flowstones make it out into the world? As a reflection of my inner, non-verbal life, do I trust them to show their face to the public? These mini artworks have no purpose. They are not useful as tools, clothing, shelter, or food. For many months, I created these stones without considering anyone but myself. The mere act of creation was a meditative and soothing process. Each time I allowed myself to spend time with polymer clay, I felt myself sink into a non-verbal place. Almost like REM sleep, this state of flow was healing and restoring. I enjoyed the creative process at least as much as the resulting pieces. But what would happen if I showed the product of my mediations to the world? In the fall of 2015, I decided to find out.

It was at a holiday craft fair that I first unveiled my Flowstones. I was selling my functional piecesjewelry, pottery, and boxesand had nothing to lose by adding a few stones to my display. Given that this was a craft fair, I had to put a monetary value on the stones, which was jarring. How could I put a price on something that until now had existed only to bring me inner peace? The whole endeavor made me nervous, but my home was quickly filling with these visitors from another world, and my family was beginning to wonder if we would be overrun. So, with heart in hand, I put these reflections of my inner life on display and stood back to see what would happen.

Some visitors to my table were confused, but far more people responded from the heart. Rather than judge the stones or ask what purpose they served in the world, people simply responded to them as objects of beauty and fascination. Time slowed down as busy holiday shoppers handled the stones, turning them over, feeling their weight, inspecting their differences. What touched me most was how children reacted. As they approached my table, they were immediately drawn to the stones. Once allowed to make a selection, they did so with great seriousness. I was fascinated by how the adults reacted to their childrens choices. Some gave advice or offered practical considerations: Take the one with glitter! Dont you like shiny things? That one is too smallyoull lose it! That one is too bigdont you have enough possessions already? But some caretakers allowed the children the time they needed to connect with one particular stone. There in front of my booth was a microcosm of this eternal struggle, of inner and outer lives vying for time.