How Art Heals-WEB

5 2. Margie LaLonde WWW. INSTAGRAM.COM/MARGIE.LALONDE NEW YORK, USA For Strong in the Broken Places , the artist had planned to create a piece about grieving, but the work changed. “The way the figures gaze at each other and hold each other seemed more about strength and encouragement. I kept thinking about Hemingway’s statement ‘The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places.’ Although the quote is a little out of context, I felt it was right for how I was feeling. It has taken on the quality of a mantra for me.” The best thing about being an artist, for me, is the feeling of f low—a term meaning energized focus, full engagement, and enjoyment of the process— when creating a ceramic piece. Creating is very much a meditative process, then. I usually start with a vague idea of the emotion or concept I want to convey, but that can change as the piece evolves, as it did in Strong in the Broken Places . Because each piece can take many days, weeks, or even months to complete, there is time for me to work through diff icult emotions and develop a better understanding of the struggle I’m going through. When I completed Strong in the Broken Places, I def initely felt a sense of satisfaction, but, more than that, there was also a feeling of closure.