Try to not use the word "STILL"; just DO IT.

 Ceramic Artist  EvaZeisel: 

Making art at 104

"the playful search for beauty 

was called the first activity of Man"

"Still" is not a word Eva uses when discussing making art. 

What I find inspiring is most of my friends in the 60s,70s,80s are DOING their work with passion and gusto - there is never enough time in the day it seems no matter what age when there are things to learn and one remains curious about the world. Eva lived through some of the most interesting times as we are now. So many people overwhelmed by the fast pace; the impersonal; the destruction of the environment; meanness and apathy abound. So what of it? 

So will the world as we know it END? I don't think so. I perfer to think of new beginnings - and that's where the dream begins . How do you  envision the world? How does one be ? and what can one do? Don't buy into the fear...and never think you're too old for it; We live in such amazing times and hearing Eva's reflection on life and see how she continues to do her art is truly inspiring.

I came across this beautiful quote from an old love letter from years ago. It holds true for these times as well. 

“The best thing for being sad,” replied Merlyn, beginning to puff and blow, “is to learn something. That is the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then — to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting.” 

— T. H. White, The Once and Future King

Pierfranco Fasola 50+

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Oct 30 2009: I find it interesting when she says, "the playful search for beauty was called the first activity of Man". I think Joseph Campbell once said something along these lines. There is a point in the history of humanity, around 500,000 years ago - I think - in which you start finding stone tools that are not just useful but also very well crafted. Tools with excellent symmetry, shape and proportion. It's what Robinson Jeffers called the "divinely superfluous beauty". The British Museum in London has some of these stones on display, and there you see very clearly that whoever cut those stones was making not just a tool but also a very nice object. Campbell says that no animal would do things like that. So, may be, this is what defines us as human beings: the search for beauty, in objects, in words and in what we do. I think this is why we care about design. Usefulness alone is not enough.

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1987/04/13/1987_04_13_036_TNY_CARDS_000345268

http://modular4kc.com/2010/03/26/design-friday-eve-zeisel-104-years-of-living-artistry/