I just want to be inspired.
Job #1- Pay honest attention to what you like
Sometimes, a moment of inspiration can pass so quickly it is lost before it can even be realized. a moment of influence doesn’t have to be epic, instead, it is more common that it feels everyday. Either way, it is fleeting. unless it is acted upon it fails to serve. Here are just a few catalysts that changed my creative path…
This single vase inspired my journey…
Often referred to as the “Mona Lisa of the ceramics world” this is the most influential piece I have ever seen. As a matter of fact, I can remember where I was when I first saw it, and it didn’t leave my mind after that for some time. It has been guiding my style since then.
Adelaide Robineau's masterpiece, The Scarab, was a 17-inch aqua-tinted translucent porcelain vase. It was finished in 1910 and won the grand prize at the Turin International Exposition a year later.
It required more than 1,000 hours and two firings to finish. It was named the scarab as a tribute to the patience and workmanship of the Egyptian beetle of the same name.
Robineau also titled the piece "The Apotheosis of the Toiler" because of the precise and labor-intensive skill needed to create it.
The ceramic artist I respect the most…
Sometimes, a life lived in pottery is more inspiring than its aesthetic outcome. Such is the case with Don Reitz. Simply stated, the more your know about Don, the more you know about how to live a life fully, and additionally, how clay can play a major role in that endeavor.
If you are not familiar with Don’s work, I encourage you to explore the many videos available on youtube. They vary from instructional videos archived from the many seminars and college visits, to very personal interviews that dive more into the personal approach and explorations. Watching these will help you appreciate his energy, the ease at which he created, and how much others respected him for the knowledge he so freely shared.
As an artist still young in clay, I am inspired by his seemingly constant renewal as he developed his craft. His quest to seek out new techniques that would represent the capabilities of the medium. Through all of this, he stayed true to the roots of his unique style that still made his work easily recognizable even now, a decade since his passing at 84 years young.
