LisaPetersArt's Proudest Creation

We've asked our Bead Art Original members to tell us about their "proudest creations." In this post, LisaPetersArt tells us about hers, in her own words:

"Beauty in the Wounds", sometimes called "There's Beauty in Her Wounds" is a Raku Fired Ceramic Sculpture with Gold leaf and Brass Mesh. After creating this sculpture in raw clay and before it was bisque fired (1st firing) I intentionally broke it into pieces because I wanted to reassemble it afterward to convey a message of "putting back the pieces". I believe it is the first time my artwork was premeditated or it is the first time it ever "felt like my artwork was premeditated" as I usually I sit down with my materials and I experiment until something starts coming to life within my hands and then I just let my imagination run with it.
 

The process of putting the pieces back together was a very difficult task because earths clay has "memory" and will always go back or turn the way it was torn or broken before it was fired, regardless of how much you try to work "that memory" out of it. That task in itself represented how difficult it is for us to put back the pieces in our life so that we can begin to be whole again. The similarity between memories, holding us back - making it harder to put our lives back in order and memory making it difficult to assemble this piece was so powerful and when I realized I could join them, not perfect like before, but joined nonetheless it became clear that once we begin to embrace what mistakes and tragedy we have had in our lives we can begin to see the light or the positive and begin to heal.  

My feelings about Beauty in The Wounds are written on the back side of this sculpture so that she never goes anywhere without them.