Tuesday, October 2, 2012

My friend, Mikhail


This links to the obit for Mikhail Zakin


http://www.northjersey.com/obituaries/170134366_Artist_Mikhail_Zakin_dies_at_92.html?scpromo=1



It takes a while to absorb a loss, sometimes. Especially when you can still hear the voice, or something happens in everyday life, and you imagine their reaction, before realizing, with a start, that they are no longer there. No more sharing an exciting new artist, or planning a field trip, or just a wonderful lunch and conversation.



Mikhail Zakin recently passed away. Her life was adventurous, and she really was a citizen of the world. She was a wonderful person, a teacher of great insight, a philosopher, but most of all an artist.



She brought her sculptor's eye and hand to clay, and her work has a connection to the earth itself. Here is a link of her presentation to the Potters Guild of New Jersey:

http://youtu.be/Ey2BkOFiMBk


Mikhail was my teacher, my mentor and my friend. She was so generous in sharing her studio, kiln and home. I was lucky, lucky, very lucky to know her.




This past year Mikhail and I worked on a project to make a book of her ceramic work. She had so much to share, I could barely keep up. I'm very happy that we got a chance to finish it together (trust me, I was just following her directions). Thank you, Mikhail.



http://www.blurb.com/books/3511885#