The language of the bowl I

What does a bowl say? A bowl speaks the language of the material from which it was created. In clay, therefore, it can express at least as much as a handful of earth can tell us. If we also speak mud and earth, with its single raw material it will evoke feelings associated with places and moments. The ability to understand this language is innate to us, since the earth and all its sensations accompany us throughout our life cycle, feeding our memory. With colors it adorns landscapes, with its touch it stimulates our roots, with smells it awakens emotions in us, with sounds it sets our rhythm and with flavors it nourishes our body. Somehow we are very aware of that language. Thus, a clay bowl, with its sole substance, speaks a universal language that can be deciphered by any people in any corner and at any time.

And what does it tell us? Just by looking at it, its color may tell us if it is our countryman or comes from remote places. If he is our neighbor, he will share properties, like brothers, with the pieces that build the marvels that the ancient inhabitants of these lands bequeathed to us, that adorn our cities and shelter us in the form of bricks, since they were born together. And somehow, he is telling us in a veiled way that, although he is more modest, he has the wisdom of the monument.

Top image: Meléndez de Rivera y Durazo Santo Padre, LE, 1772. Still life with sausages, ham and containers . Oil on canvas, Prado Museum .