INSPIRATION
Like many artists, I both consciously and subconsciously draw inspiration from my surroundings. For me that often translates to nature, the tones and textures of the natural world we live in. Over the years many folks have noted that my pots have a refined classic line to their form and a color palette that brings to mind elements of rural landscapes, woodlands, lakes and rugged shorelines. It is a spectrum of color and texture that I just instinctually gravitate towards. I’m often told that, as a body of work, there is a quiet strength, a peacefulness inherent in my art, that it is not flashy or trendy but rather solid, straight forward, honest. I love that it is viewed in those terms.
I grew up and lived most of my adult life in the midwest, near the Great Lakes and in the ‘Land of 10,000 Lakes.’ There were many opportunities to spend time pursuing a multitude of outdoor activities. With a father who worked for the US Forest Service as a landscape architect and who often took us into the forest with him when he was designing camp grounds, to 4 summers during my high school years that I worked and lived in the woods, as a YMCA camp counselor, much of my youth was spent involved in outdoor activities. That love of nature has continued throughout my life in many forms and through many activities. From multiple extended canoe trips into the BWCA Wilderness, backpacking, hiking and skiing the Rocky Mountains, to biking, fishing, mushroom foraging and hunting waterfowl and upland game birds in the fields, forests and lakes of middle America. I’ve also spent nearly 50 years exploring beneath the surface, scuba diving, in oceans of the world and inland lakes too. A number of those years were spent researching nautical wrecks and cultural artifacts with a team of underwater archaeologists, documenting Minnesotas maritime history. The outdoors has been and continues to be an integral part of my life. That sense of tranquility that I personally find in nature has filtered into, inspired and guided my work as well.
I am also inspired by the skill, the art, the centuries old tradition, of the wheel thrown vessel. At a time when many ceramic artists are essentially becoming small factories, utilizing molds, hydraulic presses, 3D printers and other mechanical means to make copies of their work in order to reproduce it in mass, I have fully committed to carrying on the traditional artistry of creating every piece individually on the potters wheel, by hand, with the assistance of just a few very simple handheld shaping tools. Therefore, every vessel is a one-of-a-kind original, created with my hands, born of earth and fire. Since they are all individual works of art, there is nuance and distinct personality inherent in each piece that invites discovery. There is also a human quality intrinsic in something handmade that can’t be duplicated by machines.
My early journeys into the creative world were in music and 2 dimensional art; photography and oil painted canvases. Art that was meant to be viewed. When I began making pottery I took that mindset to it and envisioned creating decorative works to put on pedestals or mount on walls. However, like most everyone on the first day at the wheel, the first pot I was able to create was a bowl. Once fired, I ended up using that bowl alot and was drawn to creating more functional pieces. I soon discovered that making functional artwork would lead me to a whole other avenue of discovery to explore, understand and be inspired by.
For me the realization came when I fully appreciated that the empty space I was creating within a vessel I was making had its very own collaborative potential with the person who would eventually make use of the pot. It was arriving at the understanding that the useable void within a pot was just as important as the vessel itself. It was a realization that the art work doesn’t exist merely to be viewed, but that it is not truly complete until the vessel and the void it holds, has been filled and put to use!
It also became clear that the appreciation gleaned from merely viewing an object of art is multiplied through function, as it requires tactile handling, while being put to use, and that is where the individual character of each piece stands the best chance of truly being revealed. I believe this is why patrons of my art work frequently tell me that their appreciation of the artistry and the vessel, grows with each and every use.
As my passion for pottery continued and I began selling my work something else unexpected happened. I soon found that many of my customers were people with very strong and varied interests of their own. They often let me know that they were purchasing my pottery to use and enhance their experience when pursuing their own particular passions. Chefs, vegetable and flower gardeners, fruit growers, foragers, wine, beer, coffee and tea lovers, etc., all using my pottery for rituals that were very important in their lives. As an Artist, I find that this collaboration that functional work engages in with my customers and their passions, facilitated by them using of one of my pottery vessels, is very special and inspirational to my artistic pursuits.
Something that has been told to me numerous times over the years and that I always feel honored to hear, is that one of my pots is being used for a very special family recipe. I’m told that in the process of it being used, the pottery has become an integral part of that shared family experience, so much so that the pot is now being passed from one generation to the next, as a family heirloom, along with the treasured family recipe. As an artist, It really doesn’t get much more rewarding or inspiring than that.
These pots were meant to be used, please do!
