Artist's Statements -- You gotta love 'em...

After learning enough about ceramics to be dangerous to myself and others I managed to convince a local gallery to begin carrying some of my work. At first, that was limited to carrying tubs of pottery over to them, having them select what they wanted and accepting a copy of a listing they made. Now, they want an "artist's statement."

I've never done one. They said, "Write something about your philosophy -- why you make pottery..."

After I got beyond my hangup that it is not appropriate for me to refer to myself as an "artist" (only others can bestow that title) I said, "OK. I can do that." Then I thought about it.

I love the Arts, and have for as long as I can remember. Back during high school when jocks were elevated to deity status and band members were geeks, I was in the band. From 7th grade through graduation my school offered one pitiful, half-year token art course and I took it. Art was never celebrated there. In fact, I'm not sure why they had any art at all. The men in the barber shop never discussed artists, but there was much talk about football players. I usually read the "National Geographic" or "Popular Mechanics" while awaiting my turn in the chair.

But now, many moons later, I have to write my own "artist's statement."

First, I read some that others have written. What a pile of crap! You'd almost think those pompous bastards were the only inhabitants on the Planet with intelligence. Words I have to look up; indecipherable, mindless artspeak bullshit most likely cribbed from some other equally-misfocused soul; sad yet arrogant pronouncements about what assholes human beings are or how malevolent my political or religious convictions must be. Where does this drivel come from?!

But fair is fair. If I can criticize yours, then you have the right to criticize mine. Here's what I came up with. Love to hear your comments:

Artist’s Statement
When asked why I am a potter I always have to debate myself over which answer to give. One expresses my need to “make things” – something that has been with me for my entire adult lifetime and something I can neither understand nor explain. In this answer I also need to explain the continuum between my education in Architecture and the Arts followed by a career that forced me to spend my life doing things that were neither natural nor interesting. Finally, in answer #1 I need to explain my avocational background in sculpting and how pottery is a form of sculpture, relying on surfaces, curves, forms and other components to define space. And I always feel as though I've omitted something important if I don't comment on my teen years, roaming the North Alabama hills and forests accompanied only by my dog and my shotgun.

I rarely use answer #1 because it is far too complex for the average person to tolerate.

Instead, I use answer #2: I make pottery because it makes me feel incredibly good.

Ceramics offers wonderful opportunities to use “schoolhouse” knowledge I believed I would never need. It also lets me indulge my need to implement random ideas; it encourages indulging passing obsessions and experimentation with color, texture, form, mass, line, surface and so on without the fear of failure; it is a perfect venue for conquering many different skills. It rewards hard work with tangible results. All of these are amazingly gratifying. I make my pottery to satisfy myself, and am incredibly gratified when someone else likes it. It causes a sense of connection with others and it leads to real, tangible connections with others. I make pottery because it makes me feel good.

I make no lofty “statements” with my pottery. Those seeking comments on the environment, social order, politics or the “destructive nature of humankind” will have to look elsewhere. What I do communicate with my work is my satisfaction with what I have produced at a specific point in time. It comes from within me. I do not know how it got there. Yesterday, I was not this accomplished. Tomorrow, I will do much better.

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