I recently updated my CV and LinkedIn profile to reference Glass Elements in the past tense.
It’s odd.
See, the thing is, this isn’t the definitive END. I’ve only put the Glass Elements studio and shop on hiatus. But since I don’t have a studio here and all of my favorite tools and equipment are in storage 4500 miles away, I honestly need to look at that reality as “past tense”.
A friend asked recently if it was “freeing” but I’m not sure it is just yet. But thinking about GE in the past tense and my recent obvious focus on doors has made this quote pop into my head many times:
Alexander Graham Bell
When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.
I’ve recently had the good fortune to meet up with Róisín de Buitléar – a renowned glass artist based here in Dublin and an all around fabulous human, too. She reminded me of my unique opportunity here, to think of this time as an artist residency and to repeat this phrase to myself:
I give myself permission…
You should have seen my face at that moment. I know I made a quizzical HUH? face. Permission for what?
Permission to learn, to follow some new path, to just be? Permission to fill in the blank as I see fit. Thank you for that, Róisín! This is going to take some practice.
So… here’s to not looking too long in the rear view and to exploration, being open, and to giving myself permission.