As our children enter their middle-grade to teen years, our schedules grow fuller with practices, games, and lessons. This likely comes as no surprise to many of you, but it is something we’re having to grow accustomed to. What was once “all hands on deck” is now “all heads on deck.” It’s more of a brain game – whether it’s helping to study prepositional phrases, well-timed reminders about the “away” game uniform, supporting changing peer relationships, or simply figuring out who is going where and when. It can be a bit of a puzzle.
Why does this matter to our creative efforts? Well, as Ben and I sit down to lunch, we often find ourselves working on the brain puzzle – who needs what, and when, and where. I can’t help but wonder how our changing child-raising experience will impact our creative work and decision-making. Maybe our next sculpture will be a metal mini-bus filled with a sports team?? Ok, that’s not really something we’re planning to make. But who knows what kinds of creative ideas we’ll uncover in this time of changing daily routine?
There is definitely a strong pull to keep that creativity a-chugging. In the process of laying out our new 2019 catalog recently, we realized there is clearly space for more (though probably not a mini-bus). Ben and I try to include what we think are the best pieces we’re currently making. In doing so, it sometimes seems like we want to omit nearly every other piece. Many just don’t feel good enough. While they all bring joy, we simply feel as though we can do better. I think that because the printed catalog is such a definitive thing (not much is our life!), it really brings out the feeling that everything seems to be a work-in-progress. It could be more imaginative, more useful, more beautiful.
Always more to try, isn’t there? This year some of that “trying” will be in the furniture category. We’ve set a goal to create a broader furniture line. Our tagline has always been sculpture and furniture, and because we’ve mainly created tables to date, I suggested to Ben that we revise it to sculpture and tables. He felt strongly that we keep the “furniture” and let it be our impetus to do just that – make more furniture (which he does thoroughly enjoy doing).
All this is to say that whether it’s the increasing complexity in our daily schedule or the expanding tension of creativity, we grow more and more thankful for you each and every day. You, who take time out of your incredibly busy lives to follow us along on our journey. It is becoming more and more clear to us that days are precious and life is a puzzle indeed!
Each month, we share a story here on the blog and then share another in our monthly email newsletter. If you want to be sure not to miss a single one, sign up for our emails here. We’ll include a link to the latest blog post in each email.
In this month’s newsletter, we’ll share more stories about the natural ebb and flow of our workload (plus tables, of course, since that seems to be a part of any Gatski conversation lately), plus weather observations and more! We also share sales and special deals with our newsletter subscribers first, so sign up right here.
And if you’re interested in how we could be part of the big picture of the art in your home, email us at [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you!
