Why I Love Clay

2005..Graphic Communication I..the first of many beautifully tough design classes to come. On the reading list: Art & Fear: Observations On The Perils (and Rewards) of ARTMAKING by David Bayles and Ted Orland.

Well, I never really read it until 2010. Now I know why I love clay.

"Some materials are so readily charged and responsive that artists have turned to them for thousands of years, and probably will for thousands more. For many artists, a response to a particular material has been intensely personal, as if the material spoke directly to them. Where materials have potential, they also have limits. Ink wants to flow, but not just across any surface. Clay wants to hold a shape, but not just any shape. And any case, without your active participation their potential remains just that - potential." Art & Fear page 17-18

Inspiring words...an artist's winter sun.

2000..I first picked up a trowel and learned I loved to plaster. . Bought a bucket o' "Venetian" plaster but it was really acrylic compound, ridden with plastics and universal colorants.

2006..Street of Dreams. My first encounter with clay plaster. I worked on a crew and could not get enough of learning about this "new" ancient material. I felt an immediate pull to it.

The years pass too quickly as with each phase I enter: marble, lime, clay, cement, acrylics, etc. Even Vanilla flavored food-grade paper pulp plaster. Yes, that phase ended very quick!

Clay always remains..it's the best kind of love..one that is everlasting and stable, yet there is always something new I discover along the way. And it forgives me for being too rough, too messy, or not pushing it enough. A quick spritz of water on the unsealed clay wall is the artist's "welcome mat" for potential.

Reworkability.

My true moment of appreciation of this material has unfurled. Recently, I was able to successfully repair a 25'x20'ceiling from a water leak without having to re-do the entire plane. Shoulders and neck were very happy! :) Then the real magic happened....

I have lived in Skip-Trowel Land long enough. Ok, it looks really cool when you force a horizontal line and do a colorwash and alllll. But I neeeeeed to get beyond this and push it. I go back to basics. Drawing.

Sketching bled into sculpting and pretty soon my pencil landed from the pad to the wall. There I was slicing away into clay. Adding..reducing. The material pushes me and forgives me at the same time.

My Dad has been a wood carver and wildlife artist for 40 years now. While I am having a dialogue with my walls and figuring out what it wants, I am also recalling his words to me. "The form is there, it is just waiting to come out."

.....So thank you clay for letting me dig into you, to discover you. I can't wait till our next session together, which starts...right about....NOW!