Pathways and journeys leave marks. Memories. Scars. For a long time in my clay work, I cut clay with wire and changed directions wildly, as if the change of direction itself was of interest. I let the tool jump up and down on the surface of a spinning vessel, as if a record of change spinning under a needle on a journey outward. I looked for vanishing points in the world, as if it were possible to the end of any journey. I watched my children walk, run, fall – as they weren’t always looking in the direction of travel. The truth is though, we fall even when we are focused on the path.
I find inspiration in these patterns of thought. I want to express that in the patterns I make in my work. I cut pathways in clay. I repeat themes in everything I do. Maybe it is the teacher in me…
Keep explaining it in different ways until everyone understands.
This is the message: Life is messy, and it’s scars and memories are the reason for its interest. You can change direction. You can go toward the vanishing point without ever vanishing yourself. Your path is yours only. Nobody needs to find value in it other than you…but it is nice when we can share common values in our collective journeys.
Photos Top Row, L-R:
- I took this picture when my kids were young, walking the streets – Batman’s Alley in São Paulo, Brasil
- I like taking detail photos of clay in all stages of creating a piece. This series of plates were made by wrapping cut-off around knitting needles of varied gauges and stretching the coils. The path those wires made through clay was part of the functionality of draining on plates meant for holding soap.
- I took many, many pictures in Antelope Canyon, Arizona as the pathways cut by wind, water and time are a marvel.
Photos Middle Row, L-R:
- I took this picture of raw clay cut with a textured cut-off wire. I love the smooth nature of this particular body of clay. So much of the clay I work with has a high grit content, but I find that these pathways marked through fine particle clay are so clean and beautiful. It is a big contrast to marks made when ripping out chunks of sand from the clay face.
- I took this photo on a lake in Minnesota. It could be anywhere, but it was where I was at a moment in time when beauty presented itself.
- This is the top of a clay stopper made with a very fine textured cut-off wire. The top of the stopper is a little larger than the diameter of a quarter.
Photos Bottom Row, L-R:
- I took this picture of chatter marks made by a metal rib on the center of a 24 inch platter. I then moved the “center” to another focal point to make other circles with added slip. Sorry, if you are not a clay person, likely that makes no sense to you at all. I will post some videos of that a some point. Some of you may need to settle for this being a picture of cool texture on a thrown plate.
- This is a detail photo of a set of textured tiles I made. I wiggled my hands while holding the cut off wire as I sliced off clay chunks to make tiles. The faces are all different looking and only related by technique.
- I took this picture in the Black Hills region of South Dakota. The sky meets the trees there as the hills obscure an actual horizon line in most views.
Mudança 