Artists' Statements

Artists' statements are something I seek to have my Advanced Ceramics students work on. Whether you're an established, seasoned artist or a young artist, these statements of vision and purpose are difficult undertakings. Most artists find themselves far more comfortable expressing themselves with imagery than with the written word. It is, however, a valuable endeavor, to explore and express in words where your work comes from, what inspires it, and what you seek to express and why. Here is a version of my artist's statement I've been using and adapting for some time. These things, I've found, are living documents that require change and revision as the work evolves and experience deepens. I'm due to revise mine soon.

"As I continually reflect upon my work and life as an artist, an educator and Maine resident my thoughts return to issues of loss, change, decay and renewal. It is true that the only constant we can rely on is change. The robust manufacturing industry that had been such a part of my hometown of Lewiston has faded. Its hulking mills and factories exist in various states of decay, demolition and refurbishment. I’m constantly made aware and have become fascinated by the impermanence of our surroundings and of things in general. I find myself inspired by aged walls, thick with layers of paint, partially peeled and revealing any number of fresh starts. Buildings that once housed three shifts of bustling mill workers and noisy machinery now serve as spaces for fine dining or shopping. We reappropriate spaces for different uses depending upon our current needs. The old gets covered up. Forgotten. Neglected memories are lost. Generations of ancestors and a wealth of experiences fade as ghosts in the frantic din of pursuing the present moment. Valuable lessons somehow don’t get passed on as one generation treads upon the footsteps of its predecessors. I believe we live in a time that requires us to look back to our recent past to appreciate our current situations. There’s beauty and wisdom to be found in the decay of what came before us. This is something I seek to explore in my work."

Check out www.jodydube.com for more of my work and commentary.

Quiet Contemplation

Tim Rowan http://www.timrowan.com/ is a ceramic artist living and working in Stone Ridge, New York who appears to spend a considerable amount of time in thought and contemplation. That is obvious when you read from his artist's statement (below).

"My art work flows from a basic desire to find and create meaning in my life. It is fueled by questions I ask myself concerning the realities I am confronted with.

In this highly technological and capitalist society our perception of time has been radically affected. Time has been measured and fragmented into smaller and smaller increments. It has been broken up, bound, categorized, and commodified. What is the impact of this on society and the individual? What is our relationship with time?

The forms that my work take on are simple. They rely on a minimum amount of information and detail. They are constructed with a language of subtlety, understatement, and restraint. In contrast to the majority of objects and images that we are bombarded with in our contemporary society they do not easily stand out or compete for attention and in this respect require the viewer to actively slow down. They have the capacity to be engaging on different levels and this is best accomplished when one allows the work to reveal itself over time. Utilitarian objects also require physical participation, such as drinking a cup of tea. These rituals of use are also embodiments of time. When I experience real joy I am aware of my mortality and the preciousness of the moment. "

How often as artists or even just as people do we take time to contemplate and think about life's mysteries? How often do we allow ourselves to be in a quiet place, alone, without TV or music or the cell phone or computer or any distractions at all? I'm afraid the truth is that most of us spend little-to-no time at all in quiet contemplation. This time for thought and reflection is good for us though. When is the last time you truly shut off all your electronic gadgets and sat quietly and spent some quiet time with your thoughts? What was that like for you? If you haven't done it lately, give it a try.

Collections & Connections

I've been teaching ceramics at LHS since the Fall of 2001. Since then I've been slowly amassing a collection of cups made by students and left behind as gifts. Sometimes these cups have been made specifically for me by an individual, sometimes not. Some I use almost daily, some less often. Whenever I use one it feels as though I've somehow come back into contact with that person. I've posted a picture of just some of the cups I have in my collection from former (and soon-to-be former) students. The current issue of Ceramics Monthly (April 2008 p. 40) has an article called "A Quiet Liason: Pottery as Social Intermediary" by Joel Betancourt. It has made me think of my cup collection and the connection I feel to the various artists who created each cup. Here is an exerpt:

"A cup, bowl or bottle may merely hold food or drink - simple substances that nourish the body - just as for Justin Lambert, the same cup nourishes much more. Lambert, a potter residing in Jupiter, Florida, sees his functional ware as a mediator between people. Each piece sets up a dialog among its users or initiates a meeting or moment.

Friendship echoes from a piece thrown by an old companion. Lambert's grip around a cup made by a fellow artist becomes more like a handshake with that artist. 'When I grab one of my old friend's cups or mugs from the cupboard, I instantly feel a connection to that person.'"

I imagine upon retirement, after a long career of teaching ceramics to thousands of students, I may have a cupboard full of cups, a cupboard full of connections to fine memories of a multitude of former students! When I was in college we used to trade pieces at the end of each semester. That way we students walked away with something that was made by a friend that semester. Ordinarily a tremendous amount of pieces were made during a semester, so trading two or three away was no big deal. I still have artwork from those old classmates. It's a nice way to begin an art collection and it's a gratifying way to express friendship. Perhaps my Ceramics II students may want to give it a try.

Inspiration

I've come to realize over the years that inspiration can come in so many various ways and forms that it boggles the mind. I've also come to understand something that my drawing instructor from USM, Michael Moore used to say... that we can't allow ourselves to be dependent upon inspiration to do our art. Sometimes it just doesn't come. During those times, one must keep the hands moving and begin to work anyway and often the inspiration follows. To become inspired or infuenced into inspiration is a goal of this blog. To begin the creative process when you enter the studio seems like such a poor way to prepare oneself to make the most of the studio time. The creative process is ongoing. Inspiration comes to us in ways and at times we least expect. To be open to the creative process long before arriving at the studio to work will ensure that you have the work started, even if merely in the brain. What things do you credit as sources for your inspiration?

Above is the work of Heidi Preuss Grew, a ceramic artist who creates strange and very expressive creatures. Here is an exerpt from her artist's statement having to do with what inspires her.

"What I encounter in a given day provides potential inspiration for my work: fleeting moments of conversation, a given hand gesture used by a close friend, a proverb, a character in a novel, or a unique detail in a painting. I desire to capture, transform, and then share these observations. I usually respond sympathetically to a given moment while on rare occasion I desire to return an eye for an eye. The result consists largely of sketches, drawings, and figurative ceramic sculptures that are loose portraits of friends, community members, legendary people in history, or fictional characters inspired by literature and art.

I seek to reveal the vulnerable and pathetic side of the human condition as well as the heroic and beautiful. My studio practice involves serious and playful endeavors as I meld animal and human features together to develop specific meaning, symbolism, and psychological impact. This combination allows greater freedom in the creative process as it straddles real and fictional worlds. Most of my work is sourced completely from my imagination, yet at times I need to blatantly return to the human figure."

To see more of her work check out her website: http://www.heidipreussgrew.com/ .

Clay and Landscape

Clay is earth. It would seem logical that it would lend itself toward depicting landscape quite naturally as a result yet so many ceramic artists resist that association by pushing clay into other directions while seeking to control and refine it. One notable artist, Wayne Higby embraces the notion of clay as earth and has created some beautiful works having to do with landscape.

Wayne Higby Temple's Gate Pass, 1988 earthenware 14" x 33" x 8", Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of KPMG Peat Marwick (see image above) is an example of such. Temple's Gate Pass comprises five lidded vessels that together suggest a section of the Colorado River and its canyons. Wayne Higby draws freely from the sparse, sculptural canyons, valleys, and mountains of the desert Southwest for his imagery. We see in this piece a three-dimensional landscape created from the earth (clay) and glazed. Higby's primary interest, however, is in creating an illusion of an earthscape on a small scale. Despite its size, the sculpture suggests a monumental chunk of land torn from the planet for display and contemplation.

With greater attention and urgency placed on the environment and the effects of pollution on global warming, etc. do you think that the medium of clay offers the artist a powerful way in which to make an environmentalist statement in his or her work? Do you see ceramics having potential as a means to celebrate the sacredness of the earth itself?

Vessel as Painting Surface

This past summer I spent two weeks at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle, Maine working with clay and meeting several new friends and like-minded people. That's where I met and became friends with Brooke Cassady (see prior post, Making a Living). I also met a fellow ceramic artist and teacher who lives in the Deer Isle area in the summertime named Paul Heroux. I've known of Paul and his work for years and it's kind of ironic that we hadn't met until last summer considering he's "the other guy in Lewiston who teaches Ceramics" over at Bates College. Paul creates large vessels - plates, bowls, vases, etc. with broad surfaces that he uses much like his canvas to paint beautiful designs in glazes and slips. He teaches in a classroom/studio on the ground level at the Olin Art Center at Bates College. He's a very friendly and kind guy who serves as an excellent example locally of a successful artist working in clay. Because I have a few Ceramics II students currently using the wheel and handbuilding vessel forms like plates and shallow bowls, just about ready to be making decisions about surface treatment, this posting seemed timely. What do you think of using vessel forms as 3-D canvas surfaces for painting?

Check out more of Paul's work at http://www.artnet.com/artist/424112304/paul-heroux.html and http://www.junefitzpatrickgallery.com/phxhome.html .

Paul Heroux - ARTIST STATEMENT:

"I have been working with the ceramic vessel as a painting surface for over twenty years now, and I am still interested in this three-dimensional canvas because there is always some side hidden, regardless of the vantage point. The patterning on the surface is foremost a response to the form. The imagery has changed over time in reaction to evolving interests and events in my life. Often plant life, and references to the landscape are present. It is also important to me that my work is visibly strong and durable, so that it invites touch and use. I am a craft artist; tactile experience and the potential for use are crucial to my definition of a craft object."

Making a Living

As a teacher I often think that one of the ways that our education system lets students down is by not teaching enough about entrepreneurship and providing the skills needed to allow students to promote and sell a product or service. We live in such a consumer culture that it seems odd to me that we don't emphasize entrepreneurship across the curriculum. I know that with regard to ceramics, there are many people who produce functional, hand-made pottery who support themselves selling their wares. In this industrial, or some might say post-industrial age we live in, most of the things we use are mass-produced in factories and in response, high quality one-of-a-kind, hand crafted items are growing in value and demand. In Ceramics class, believe it or not, you're taught many of the skills needed to pursue production pottery as a means of making a living. With the internet to assist in marketing it's become conceivable to produce a quality product with consistency that may appeal to buyers from all over the world.

I have a friend named Brooke Cassady who is a potter and an artist who produces very beautiful and graceful functional ware of very high quality and integrity. She sells her work in shows and galleries as well as through her website and also teaches clay workshops and classes. Below is her artist's statement from her website www.brookecassady.com . Check out her site and tell me what you think of the work and the idea of making a living in the functional hand-crafted pottery market.

"I make functional, wheel-thrown pots for everyday life. I love the creative process, the endless potential of clay, but I am driven to produce forms that are simple and purposeful. The forms evoke feminine feelings of grace and fertility and are meant to elevate the ritual of cooking, eating and entertaining with friends. Each piece is made with a specific function in mind, planning the response to the way the rim of a cup feels resting on the lips or the gentle curves of a carved bowl nested in the hands. Botanicals – trees, roots, leaves, and blossoms – are a constant source of inspiration, as well as my background in art history, particularly modern and Asian art. I am fascinated with the lucid beauty in nature, the way that light streams through a canopy of leaves, reflections shimmer across a body of water, and the asymmetry found in the cross-section of fruits and vegetables. Some of these images are used literally in my work, in the carvings and brushwork. However, I also enjoy abstracting the ideas of growth and vitality in nature, in combination with the female figure to create voluminous forms that suggest abundance. I am also drawn to the abstraction of images and expressive mark making in modern art; the crisp linear qualities and patterning in Japanese woodblock prints; and the rhythm of brushstrokes in ancient and contemporary calligraphy combined with the rich tradition of ceramics in Asia."