Unique ways of self expression!

Work I think should be a meaningful expression of ourselves. Of course, we have to pay the bills, but to develop a more meaningful and balanced life it is useful to think about different ways we could express ourselves and take steps towards it.

I met Violeta Karalic at the Professional Women’s Group of Basel, where  we share  and connect with  professional women living in Basel from all over the world. 

Violeta  - as a Medical Doctor - has her own Practice for Acupuncture and Chinese Nutrition Therapy in Basel.   Acupuncture is also a very interesting  topic to share, but I became increasingly interested in  posting  her experience  when I learned she is modelling  and making ceramics as a hobby. For her, this is  a way of expressing her unique personal  sense of art.  

I asked her how she does this.

Violeta,

You have been moving  around the world like so many other expats and was able to express yourself in your original profession having  established your  Medical Practice.  What made you start making ceramics  and why specifically clay ?  

I had that longing to work with clay long ago. I can’t tell when I felt it for the first time; maybe I had it from the very beginning.

I started making ceramics while living in South Africa, fifteen years ago.

At that time, somehow everything came together. I had more spare time, there was a pottery studio up the hill where we lived. I went there to see and try. It happened - I fell in love with clay quickly and deeply; it fascinates me now as it did on that very first day.

You need to slow down to get into the mindset of creating, do you?

Clay has its own spirit and character. You have to find a way to synchronize yourself, your ideas and your will with the willingness of the clay to follow you. You have to find the right balance to let the clay make the best out of itself.

For that, you have to put yourself into the right frame of mind, you have to slow down, let other things go and start the journey. 

How does  creating  enrich your  life? 

By learning about clay and through the process of creation, I’ve learnt about myself as well. Interacting with something or someone is always learning about what (else) we are. That’s what life is about, I think.

You told me about a very interesting characteristic of clay.  What was it about the memory ? 

Yes, clay remembers. You are allowed to go only until a certain point in the process of creating. If you go further and push the clay beyond its limits, after firing it, it will come back to you exactly in the shape it was before you forced it to do more.

This is fascinating.

Whom do you make the ceramics for?   

For some reason, I’m always making things that you can use in your everyday life. I never felt attracted to making sculpture of any kind. I like cups, pots, trays, bowls, Christmas decoration, tea-lights, vases… You can look at them, touch them, use them and enjoy them every single day.

 

Do you sell  the  creations you make? 

I started to sell only three years ago. At some stage, you want to go out and show what you’ve done, let the things live their own life.

A small gallery in Basel is selling my things, the owner liked my work and so we started.

Twice a year, in June and December, I take my ceramics to the Bazar in Stall 6, in Zürich. Stall 6 is a very special place, with a special atmosphere. It is a former stable, under monument protection. I like it very much.

When and where will you  exhibit  you work next time ? 

The next Bazar takes place on December 1.  (http://www.stall6.ch/programm/detail/stall-6-praesentiert-bazar-im-stall-6-925/)

What do you think about  „things”  in general ? I mean  there has been  a culture  of  collecting and having   things  around us  for a few thousand years, but „recently”   most of them don’t see  a human hand any more.  I particularly feel more attached to those things  which either we make  ourselves, I know who they are made by or they  have a story.

I’ve read somewhere once, and it is so true for me: “The things don’t belong to us…” And yes, I think, they do have their own life before and after us.

I have a wonderful, very old silver sugar jar. Every morning, when I put a little bit of sugar into my coffee, I think how privileged I am to have the opportunity to enjoy it  before it goes to someone else.

This is all fascinating. Maybe it is not enough just to slow down to do art, but it clearly helps. 

Year end RE-CREATION!

One of my son's  Swiss teachers told the class on an October day that the time of year when  he stops going into shops is when he hears the tunes of “Jingle bells” inside, while outside leaves are still turning into red and yellow colours,  it is fifteen to twenty degrees and he is enjoying the beauties of autumn. I highly agreed with him, I also avoid shopping at this time as much as  I can. Children around Basel are just back from the autumn holiday, they should be concentrating on second quarter learning challenges and exploring seasonal experience.

November is the month, when whatever I do,  I can't ignore the fact that December and the year end festivities are nearer and nearer  with all its  "to do's".  There are tools to make this period   smoother, less stressed, more effective,  more perfect, less hectic, more planned. But do we hear people talking about these times as enjoyable, enriching, connecting, fulfilling and  relaxing?

Delivery services ring our bell in November offering Christmas catalogues, wanting to take orders already.  If not until now, an  urging internal pressure surfaces to start planning where,  who, when, how much and what  TO DO. I can't get out of the way of the standard happy family faces appearing in advertising anymore.  This is a  time when I am longing for even more authenticity than usual.

Years ago I started buying theater or  concert tickets for December 23rd evening to distract ourselves from the to do's,  to get lifted above the pragmatic pressures of  preparation for these  demanding and challenging days. Is there a better way?

December is supposed to be the time when we slow down and give ourselves and one another valuable time.  What could be more precious?  If I look back to my childhood, the best moments  around Christmas time were when we created handmade decoration for the Christmas tree together. The  main point was on "together".  

CREATE and RECREATE !  Why didn't it occur to me before to rename this period’s  "to do"  list to   "creating" list ?

To create a festive atmosphere

To create a connected atmosphere

To create gifts

To create an experience  as  a gift

To create our own space for recreation

To create peace

To create ourselves as much as we can the articles we surround ourselves with

To look back what we have created the year behind

To think abut what we want to create in the future

To create  meaning to festivity

To create time for recreation...

…and there are so many more things to create at this time of the year before, besides and beyond getting our  to do list done.

 I feel much more relaxed already!   Do you have a tip for the season to share?

Les Saveurs du Palais (2012)

 

Haute cuisine or home cooking ?

The other day we watched the film Haute Cuisine from 2012. It is unusual for a film in the XXI. Century not to be violent, have no one killed, no hyperactive actions and the love story is not between people.


The original French title "Les Saveurs du Palais" means "The tastes of the palace". The two English meanings of the word taste both apply to the film's content. The actual flavour of a dish served and the life philosophy of those preparing it.

It is based on a true story of president Francois Mitterrand, who hires a personal cook for himself to bring back to his daily life in the Élysée Palace the tastes of his childhood.
In the film, the president calls the new cook - Hortense - and instead of ten minutes they talk for one and a half hours about tastes, memories of grandmother's cooking, best ingredients, best quality eating. He explains how he sends back the sugar rose decoration on the desserts each time they come unwanted. It turns out that his favourite book in his childhood was a cookbook, which he starts quoting by heart.
Hortense creates the daily menu, a piece of art where all the tastes fit together and become one whole unique experience. 

  
                                                                                                      
The authenticity of her cooking is not a visual art but her individual way of reproducing tastes by using old recipes, choosing ingredients without any cost and geographical boundary within France. 

She travels to the countryside to get the best flavoured, sized and shaped mushrooms, she also has her own small truffle plant. She asks the president to have the standard raw food supply process changed to her own best quality choice.

 







At one point in the film, they are comparing the simpleness and fabulousness of a cheese dish that has a personal touch with the elegant but impersonal looks and tastes of an haute cuisine dessert dish.

This made me remember my grandmother’s and mother’s generation, who did not know what processed food was, they cooked what was seasonal and fresh several times each week, and they kept on saying that the more “imperfect” the food looks the better taste it has. This meant that traditional cooking is best under small scale home cooking conditions.

Back to the film, having been lucky to be in Périgord in France once - where Hortense actually comes from -, and having spent time eating in good small restaurants, I understand the film's message about French home cooking versus haute cuisine better.