2022-12-20 20:04:33
A warm and wonderful meeting with my new friend
Eve from Seoul, an incredible artist-sculptor from whom I bought a work, brought me incredibly powerful inspiration, and she seems to have new ideas for creative searches. Eve wrote a short essay about our meeting in English and I want to share the translation of this publication.
“This day was one of the most magical days of my life. On her last day in Korea, Ellen honored me with a visit to my studio. The day before, Ellen bought a piece of work from me, a ceramic cat we named Lapka, after Ellen's own cat.
I offered Ellen some tea and we chatted for a bit. When asked what she wants to do, Ellen answered "creativity." When I suggested making cups or bowls, simple jobs that took one or two hours, she replied that there could be no simple jobs, for her simple work was akin to giving her hungry inner child a tiny piece of bread.
Ellen hasn't had a studio in a long time. For the past six months, she has wandered the world, almost unable to create. She is deeply sad that her works - her children - are scattered around the world.
Ellen and her husband Evgeny are Russians. While they love their country, they are stunned that its leaders have aimed their guns at impoverished Ukraine. They are in exile and cannot return to their hometown because they cannot work in a country occupying their neighbors. She cries when she tells me she misses those simple days when she worked in her Petersburg studio with her cat by her side.
I asked her if she was considering renting an Airbnb with a studio to work in. But these days, Russians can't find housing in their own name, and visas aren't easy to get, her husband explained. Credit cards and bank accounts are frozen and they are barely surviving in exile with the help of their acquaintances.
There was no time to waste. I quickly prepared a sketchbook and a pencil. With a beaming face, Ellen began to sharpen her pencil. After a while, she said that she wanted to do her job, like in Russia, with a cat by her side. We quickly moved the ceramic cat Lapka next to her.
Ellen stayed from 3:00 pm until midnight. She finished her sketches and clay work. Even though it must have been such an exhausting schedule before she left, she left my studio with a happy and easy step. I hope that Ellen can return to her hometown soon and I wish she is always happy with her loving family and cat. My heartfelt love and deepest respect for you, Ellen and Eugene."
97 views17:04