Picture yourself walking through a shopping mall, how does being there make you feel? When you look around what do you see? What do you smell? What is the general mood of the other patrons of said shopping mall? When you leave the shopping mall, how do you feel?

This week I discovered 4 types of wild orchids in our olive grove. The first one that caught my eye was the Adriatic Lizard Orchid. The shape of the orchid’s flowers are reminiscent of little purple lizards climbing into a little flower. Tail and legs sticking out. When I started to look into this flower, I learned that this is a rare orchid that is found only in this region of the world. The websites I found information from mentioned that its to be protected as there are not so many left, which filled me with so much joy. They are rare and I have around 8 in full bloom in our little protected habitat.

Today marks a turning point in my creative journey here in Perugia. I’ve been tending to the ecosystem that is my ceramic studio/growing space that I have been so lucky to find in Perugia’s historical city center. I am surrounded by nature, yet nestled right into the heart of the city, it really is quite a scenario. After a few months of tending to it privately, I am now slowly inviting the outside world to participate in the studio ecology.

I am expressing this invitation quite literally, through the clay commons / terre aperte. While I am also inviting my fellow humans, the members of my community, to engage with my work - the outputs of the studio - through the slow goods subscription / abbonamento.

As part of a wider initiative that included most of the resident ceramicists of Perugia, I opened up my private studio to the public for the day. As I was planning what to do during my “laboratorio aperto” an idea struck, what if I got my parter and sisters involved for even more fun. Why not use this city-wide event as an excuse to have ourselves a little party? So that we did.

My creative rituals have corrected my course multiple times, never leading me astray. I got here because of the hours spent with my hands covered in dirt or clay. Living the seasonality of this life closer to nature through my relationship with garden. I return to her as I return to myself. She teaches me a type of patience that cannot be logically explained. The clay humbles me and teaches me that time is an ingredient. What does it say about me that my days are spent engaging in activities that have no other option apart from collaborating with time? Ever since I started steering the ship that is adulthood, my curiosity with time has drawn me to take this path. It’s a path overgrown with moss, a path that feels like returning to the warm embrace of my earth mother.