A Poetic Description of the Creative Working Process
From 1980 to 2003, I have had five year-long residencies working with ceramic artists in different parts of the world. Wherever I travel, walking in the landscape and historic and sacred sites helps. During my early studies in clay I was influenced by the Asian traditions brought to ceramic sculpture. And, I was mesmerized by photos of hand-built and pit fired ceramics of Africa. I became engaged with the plasticity of clay and still find that allure forty years later.
Wherever I travel, walking in the landscape and historic and sacred sites helps me experience the sense of place. I’ve maintained my studio, for 40 years, in Stockton, California, where I return after each adventure to synthesize travels, connections between cultures, reading, walking and the collective unconscious.
During the first ten years of my work, I became deeply aware of working in the tradition of universal images. From my own creative unconscious, original images appeared in my clay work. Later, I would find those images part of the collective universal visual vocabulary that bind humankind through recorded and clay history.
During the first ten years of my work, I became deeply aware of working in the tradition of universal images. From my own creative unconscious, original images appeared in my clay work. Later, I would find those images part of the collective universal visual vocabulary that bind humankind through recorded and clay history.
Minnesota, 1980. During graduate studies in the ceramics classes of Warren Mckenzie at the University of Minnesota, I was introduced to functional ceramics as an art form. All my work is influenced by the vessel form and the concept of containing breathe. Mary Hark befriended me in these long work hours in the basement studio. Mary was, I thought, an accomplished art student. Ten years younger than me, she had a grounding in indigenous cultures, having lived and studied with Chippewa Elders and travels in Guatemala. Mary’s work in fibers, cultural studies, teaching and exhibiting continues to nourish me and my work all these years later. www.maryhark.com
1985 Netherlands. Early in our sabbatical year, I became acquainted with Lies van Huet, who had a small pottery in her home in Groningen, where she invited me to work. During this time, I further developed the enigmatic boxes or clay drawings which are a signature of my body of work. She and her expanded studio and school in Leeuwarden, Friesland, is an enduring inspiration for professionalism, optimism and creativity. Marj still works in Lies' studio whenever she can (not often enough)! www.lieskeramiek.nl
Teaching ceramics for several years at a California state prison was an experience in becoming an artist. The creative experience always asks the individual to take risks, to be vulnerable within oneself. Conveying one’s humanness in the prison system, which generally denies it, requires the strength to be vulnerable. Here I learned to transcend borders with creative work. My tenure behind bars honed my understanding of the hidden truths of the human condition. The remaining journey of my life incorporates the prison experience. There is always a flip side. My opportunities have been graced by good fortune. Work from this time and more photos can be found on this site in Sculpture - Doing Hard Times.
1990 Heidelberg, Germany. Unbelievably, we watched as the Iron Curtain broke apart in Europe. The Berlin Wall fell November 9, 1989, and we arrived in Germany a month later. I hoped to be able to meet and perhaps help refugees who were streaming into Germany. In January, Alfred Herring welcomed me to work in his functional, salt-glazed pottery. He assigned Julia to show me how things worked at this prestigious pottery. She wanted to practice English and I could help her with simple tasks. Julia and I were glazing pots in the first week as she was telling me of her escape from the DDR. It would take another week for me to realize she was telling her story exactly two months since the harrowing journey. Julia Arnold’s journey in clay is all inspiring and continues in Berlin at www.traumkeramik-julion.de
Work from this period can be found in The Age of Walls.
Work from this period can be found in The Age of Walls.
1997 Zimbabwe. One year in Africa was a textured adventure with many stories. I thought traveling from Frankfort, Germany to Zimbabwe, you can only go to Africa for the first time, Once. And yes, my eyes were opened! Marjorie Wallace invited me to work at her open-air studio in Harare. My friend Viola Makoni introduced me to village potters where we all had an adventure of a lifetime. And such rich and amazing experiences with sculptors, culture, politics and friendship thanks to Tecla Mashenu at the Nyanga cultural center. My early love of African pots was so fulfilled in Zimbabwe! The 2,000-20,000-year-old rock art drawings in numerous caves fulfilled my understanding of universal images transcending generations and indigenous peoples. Contemporary ceramics and contemporary friends crossing cultures has expanded my vision forever. Marjorie Wallace: www.designnetworkafrica.org/people/matupo-pottery
2003 Dundee, Scotland. With no plans to do clay work, I walked from the train station up to the University where the map said our flat was located. As I looked up the hill, an industrial chimney complex rose behind the hill. I was by myself and said, unbelievable! That really does look like kilns. Upon investigating, indeed the kiln area of the ceramics department of the College of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design. Soon I found Tim Proud, ceramic artist and head of the department and made a case for becoming a working artist-in-residence. Tim found me a small space in a graduate studio to work alongside last year graduates. Once again, a serendipitous working situation for my Journey in Clay. Work from this period can be found in Clay Poems - Illuminations.
Returning to California was exciting as I found many working outlets, had some shows and exhibitions, tried to make some money on corporate art (not successful), had some wonderful opportunities with other artists, local and visiting. (check out projects). My journey in Clay has been enhanced each step of the way by the generosity of people eager to share their culture and lives.
No more sabbaticals to take us to adventurous sites, we prepared to sail the Pacific. In 2007, headed north to Alaska, leaving our 43’ sailboat in protected harbors for two winters before returning in 2009. In July 2010, we left the port in Stockton, out through the Golden Gate and turned south. We sailed to central Costa Rica, spending time exploring the Pacific Coastal waters and shores and returned to Stockton in 2016. I’m only going to say our exploration of pre-Columbian sites, and particularly the astounding ceramics of the Olmec people was gratifying and fulfilling. The ancestors did magnificent work. I took the time off from making art to fill up my senses. Being is Living.
We anchored our boat in a small bay just north of the southern Mexico town of Huatulco. My sculpture, “Jazz in High Times,” built in 1988 did not hold its ground forever, but tumbled over and crashed.
I was delighted to visit this sea worthy model, a sentry on the Pacific Coast. Solid as a rock!
I was delighted to visit this sea worthy model, a sentry on the Pacific Coast. Solid as a rock!