SCULPTURES

 

Clay is a fascinating medium.  It is very forgiving in its wet state, very easy to push around until I find what I want.  It is very easy to trim and carve details in its leather-hard state and terribly fragile when dry.  Then comes the fire.  Fire is the magic that makes or breaks my vision.  It can emphasize mistakes, create craterous cracks, sag or warp the figure, explode the whole piece, melt glazes until they run off, and otherwise wreck havoc.  But fire also gives strength to the clay, adds character to the piece, melts glazes into buttery smooth coats, and enhances colors.  We learn to make educated guesses about what will happen in the fire, but the truth is – we never know for sure until we open the kiln.

 

I was taught as a student to make a small clay figure before each firing to set on the kiln.  This figure is called a kiln god.  I think the primary purpose of this figure is to remind the person tending the fire to pay close attention to what the fire is doing, and to follow the planned procedures (which are educated guesses based on past performance of the fire.)  The secondary purpose of the figure is to remind the artist that when he/she gives a creation to the fire, they must accept whatever the fire adds to the creation.

 

Way back in 1977, I took a month-long weekend pottery class, (four classes) just before moving to our remote location in Clayton, NM.  I bought my equipment and started teaching myself about throwing, trimming, shapes, and glazes.  I seldom had more than 25 percent of my kiln load come out useable.  (I hadn’t yet learned about kiln gods.)  Along the way I started using my stoneware clay to make small folksy sculptures of cowboys and kids.

 

I emphasized faces, hands and feet, almost going to caricatures.  My figures were in action and interaction.  I was telling a story with expressions, gestures, and postures.  I read that sculptures should offer interest from any direction.  So I made compositions where you couldn’t see everything without going all the way around it.  Little boys at play, kids flying kites, cowboys having coffee beside a campfire, a miner having a difference of opinion with his mule, a woman teaching a girl how to embroidery;  memories of my childhood or stories I had heard, behaviors and expressions I had seen in my own boys.  I think people relate to my sculptures because everyone was once a child, and everyone once played cowboys and Indians.

 

When a sculpture brings beauty to the eye, or memories of happy times, or peace to the heart, then I have succeeded in fulfilling my personal goal and lifelong pursuit as an artist.