As someone who crafts salable art jewelry, I am often referred to, and by others, as “artist”. The dictionary describes an artist as a person who practices or provides one of the various creative arts. I have never had an issue being called artist, but then, I’ve never given the matter much thought either.

I was watching a documentary one recent evening when I became interested in comments made by the accomplished Japanese sculptor, Etsuro Sotoo. He referred to stone, the medium of his craft for the last 37 years, as his master. His stone carvings, he said, are brought to life by the stone itself. He refers to stone as his machine, his heart, his teacher.

Rather than create art, Sotoo said he copies art. He copies nature. And he takes no credit for sculpture design because the design for everything already exists. The design for every thing exists in nature. And nature is perfect!

Immersed in thought later, I realized how profound Etsuro Sotoo’s comments were. Nature is teacher. Everything we do has been taught us by nature. And, yes, nature is perfect! The dictionary describes nature as the phenomenon wherein features and other products are brought forth by the earth, as opposed to humans. These earthly creations include plants, animals, landscapes. etc.

Nature teaches me about love, about love of art. Nature teaches me about creation, about love for all creation. Whenever I feel happy, I will often take a photo of my surroundings, a photo of a beautiful flower, a gorgeous landscape, a photo of my dogs, my family or friends. Why do I take photos when I am happy? Because all of those amazing beings and creatures are a reflection of nature. They are nature. And nature is perfect.

Today, I put the finishing touches on a beautiful bracelet. I called it Morning Glory Bracelet because I wanted the jewelry to reflect the beauty that is the natural, sun-loving Morning Glory flower. It is perfect.