"The innate human longing to connect with nature's teeming diversity, knowing and appreciating the organic elegance of life offers intellectual, emotional and ascetic substance."
-Edward E Wilson
The relationship that the potter has with the clay that they manipulate is a complex form of give and take. Ceramic artists project their desires onto a medium that carries its own parameters and the two are brought into a place where consideration becomes a paramount necessity. I have found that it is from the natural processes and inherent abilities found within this medium (texture, warpage, cracking under specific conditions etc) that some of the most beautiful affects have been achieved in the ceramic arts. I was moved by the the work of Akiyama Yo, a Japanese artist who forms beautifully textured sculptural works through a combination of wheel throwing and atmospheric effects( shocking his clay bodies into breathtaking patterns by applying extreme temperatures). Or the earthen landscapes created by Kosho Ito, whos work synthesizes pattern with the natural drying processes of his clays to create installations that seem both transcendent and harmonious.
This relationship of understanding and acceptance between the artist and the medium bears a form of connection that i cant readily put into words, but it is becoming a definitive passion of mine, and although i have only momentarily glimpsed elements of this connection, it is forming into a dialogue that i will pursue throughout my lifetime.
