From Clay to Creation: My Artistic Journey

Art is a journey that begins with a single idea and transforms into something tangible and beautiful. My artistic journey, much like the process of working with clay, has been filled with exploration, experimentation, and growth. In this post, I will share my experiences, the challenges I faced, and the lessons I learned along the way.

The Beginning: Discovering My Passion

Every artist has a starting point, and mine began in a high school art class. I remember the first time I touched clay; it felt cool and malleable, full of potential. We learned basic hand-building techniques and a few of us were able to attempt to throw on the wheel. In our classroom we had a very large and heavy kick wheel.

The First Attempts

Like most of my students, my initial attempts and struggles with centering the clay on the wheel ended up with lopsided bowls. However, each failure taught me something new and eventually I was able to throw a bowl worth keeping. One bowl.

College Years

I began studying art in college planning to be a 2-dimensional artist, but as I re-encountered clay in a required ceramic class my love for the material was reignited. From then until now, I have explored the 3-dimesional as well as maintaining my interest in 2-dimensional surface. This can be seen in the surfaces of many of my geometric sculptural pieces, the surface decoration on my functional pottery, and my continued interest in printmaking and drawing.

Finding Inspiration

Inspiration can come from various sources. For me, it has always been nature, mythology, poetry, and the creative work of past cultures. And, of course, inspiration comes from all the artists who have come before me.