As the year draws to a close, I'm busy with lists and files and memories and thoughts – things that have been, things that might still be – in my life and in my art. Some time in the past few months I came across mention of the Japanese art form kintsugi. The word means (they tell me) simply "repair," a word that doesn't begin to suggest the beauty of kintsugi creations, in which broken ceramics are mended with gold-infused lacquer. The outcome often out-dazzles the original piece.
In September, as I began to weed out my packrat's hoard, I wondered if it wasn't time to part with the two pieces of a broken teacup. But I couldn't – this was what remained of my first post-university tea set, when flavoured teas were just appearing in North American specialty shops as a trendy alternative to Lipton's.
Why not give kintsugi – or a pale imitation -- a try? Surely my Spectral Creatures would be glad to take a holiday break. So I gathered my Reasonable Facsimile supplies (oh quick, write that down – Perfect name for another series!). Here are my broken pieces with gold-coloured pigment powder and tube gouache. Off-camera are my gloved hands and a small tube of kid-friendly white glue.
It required some careful handling, but here's the outcome. My verdict: Neither big enough nor broken enough to produce a glitzy splash.
But then, what to do with my leftover Golden Glue Goop? Not that it was 10-karat, but still –
I poked around in my caches of oddments -- make that "found objects" -- and created a little – spillway?
If only there had been more broken pieces with that jug spout that forms the upside-down centrepiece.
Never mind. Kintsugi is one more thing I've gotten out of my system for the year just ending. Let's sit back now and go with the flow of this golden stream. I think I'm hearing Leonard Cohen's "Anthem." There is a crack in everything… That's how the light gets in.
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