WFC An International Collection of Wood-fired and Sculptural Ceramics 薪窯陶芸と彫刻陶芸 インターナショナル・コレクション Een Internationale Collectie van Houtgestookte en Beeldhouwtechnieken Keramiek Une Collection Internationale de Céramiques au Feu de Bois et de Céramiques Sculpturales
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I was born in 1962 on an Air Force Base in Rome, NY. (I like to tell people I was born in Rome). Shortly afterwards my Family moved to Germany, It is here that I can recall my earliest childhood memories. At age 4 or so, we moved back to the state’s and eventually settled in New Mexico. Here I was exposed to Native American Reservations and the arts and crafts they produced. It is these memories and recollections that would serve me today.
Although I was intrigued by jewelry and finished clay pieces is was the clay itself that found my undivided attention. We lived in a trailer and often times I would crawl underneath where the dogs were lying about in hollowed out holes. Recognizing what they were laying on, I would use my hands to pull away the sand until I too could find the material to create my own cool divot in the earth. The warm sand moved aside, gave way to reveal cool, smooth, damp terra cotta earth. Holding is against the skin gave instant relief. I began playing and building with the maluable material. Emulating the craftsman I witnessed on the reservations, I soon found myself building Indian villages with adobe fences around them. Building on any surface I could find... My parent’s response was to “move that s--t out of the driveway”. My villages soon became a concentration on just one form, the Indian bread oven. The dome shape that could be found on almost any Native American property. A clay oven, which coincidently looks just like many kilns, was used to bake bread. I was obsessed with this form and reproduced it in miniature time and time again on cardboard and scrap pieces of wood. Left in the hot desert sun the clay would dry, split, crack, and crumble. To me this process only made it better. I was creating my own archeological artifacts.
When I was not playing in the dirt, I was hiking up to the Forest Ranger station. Collecting arrow heads and cool looking rocks and sticks along the way. With my pockets stuffed full, hands face and clothing filthy with the mostly dark red earth, my mission was clear. To get to the station to see if any new Smokey Bear “stuff” was in pencils, rulers, coloring books, anything I could get for free. The story of the bear that survived the historical forest fire was more then intriguing for me it was fascinating. I took to heart the lessons of dealing with fire safely. With that being said… I was always careful when I played with fire and thankfully never burned anything down. Although there was a bit of panic on my part when a small straw fire temporarily got out of control in the goat barn. It was a lesson well learned and I never built fire again with out a hose right next to me.
As with many occupying activities of childhood, other things took my interest. I found myself in New Hampshire during my secondary years. Still very intrigued by the earth I acquired my first piece of stoneware pottery. Life has a way of moving you along and suddenly at age 32, living in Manhattan I realized I had lost that connection with the earth and I was not happy about it.
I quit my job, moved to Florida, bought a pottery wheel, went back to school and set out to change my life occupation. To reconnect with the earth and find that joy I experienced as a little girl playing with the material that kept me endlessly occupied. It was when I learned about kilns and firing the clay that I realized my entire childhood experiences culminated into what amounts to the steps that led me to my destiny.
I am endlessly fascinated by the material and processes of clay. Today, I create clay art that is vessel referenced, and atmospheric fired allowing the firing process to influence the surface color and texture of my pieces. I lean toward making work that is organic and abstract in form with a particular slant toward the Asian esthetic. Surfaces for me should juxtapose both visually and viscerally the values of texture encompassing rough, smooth and sharp. For the last couple of years I have concentrated on 4 basic bodies of work, all of which relate to landscape and sky. Platters that deal with the night sky and astronomy. Japanese pillows that explore my intrigue with the Islands use of earth and land for crops, and wood fired pots that deal with simple organic forms that allow the firing process to envelope them, creating a tactile canvas of shape. My most recent work also explores landscapes with hand built weed pots.
I look back at my life and with hind sight realize. I am where I am supposed to be, doing what I am supposed to do and ever so excited about the prospects that this medium will afford me the future I am supposed to have. - T. Robert Japanese Translation Pending Dutch Translation Pending French Translation Pending
Although I was intrigued by jewelry and finished clay pieces is was the clay itself that found my undivided attention. We lived in a trailer and often times I would crawl underneath where the dogs were lying about in hollowed out holes. Recognizing what they were laying on, I would use my hands to pull away the sand until I too could find the material to create my own cool divot in the earth. The warm sand moved aside, gave way to reveal cool, smooth, damp terra cotta earth. Holding is against the skin gave instant relief. I began playing and building with the maluable material. Emulating the craftsman I witnessed on the reservations, I soon found myself building Indian villages with adobe fences around them. Building on any surface I could find... My parent’s response was to “move that s--t out of the driveway”. My villages soon became a concentration on just one form, the Indian bread oven. The dome shape that could be found on almost any Native American property. A clay oven, which coincidently looks just like many kilns, was used to bake bread. I was obsessed with this form and reproduced it in miniature time and time again on cardboard and scrap pieces of wood. Left in the hot desert sun the clay would dry, split, crack, and crumble. To me this process only made it better. I was creating my own archeological artifacts.
When I was not playing in the dirt, I was hiking up to the Forest Ranger station. Collecting arrow heads and cool looking rocks and sticks along the way. With my pockets stuffed full, hands face and clothing filthy with the mostly dark red earth, my mission was clear. To get to the station to see if any new Smokey Bear “stuff” was in pencils, rulers, coloring books, anything I could get for free. The story of the bear that survived the historical forest fire was more then intriguing for me it was fascinating. I took to heart the lessons of dealing with fire safely. With that being said… I was always careful when I played with fire and thankfully never burned anything down. Although there was a bit of panic on my part when a small straw fire temporarily got out of control in the goat barn. It was a lesson well learned and I never built fire again with out a hose right next to me.
As with many occupying activities of childhood, other things took my interest. I found myself in New Hampshire during my secondary years. Still very intrigued by the earth I acquired my first piece of stoneware pottery. Life has a way of moving you along and suddenly at age 32, living in Manhattan I realized I had lost that connection with the earth and I was not happy about it.
I quit my job, moved to Florida, bought a pottery wheel, went back to school and set out to change my life occupation. To reconnect with the earth and find that joy I experienced as a little girl playing with the material that kept me endlessly occupied. It was when I learned about kilns and firing the clay that I realized my entire childhood experiences culminated into what amounts to the steps that led me to my destiny.
I am endlessly fascinated by the material and processes of clay. Today, I create clay art that is vessel referenced, and atmospheric fired allowing the firing process to influence the surface color and texture of my pieces. I lean toward making work that is organic and abstract in form with a particular slant toward the Asian esthetic. Surfaces for me should juxtapose both visually and viscerally the values of texture encompassing rough, smooth and sharp. For the last couple of years I have concentrated on 4 basic bodies of work, all of which relate to landscape and sky. Platters that deal with the night sky and astronomy. Japanese pillows that explore my intrigue with the Islands use of earth and land for crops, and wood fired pots that deal with simple organic forms that allow the firing process to envelope them, creating a tactile canvas of shape. My most recent work also explores landscapes with hand built weed pots.
I look back at my life and with hind sight realize. I am where I am supposed to be, doing what I am supposed to do and ever so excited about the prospects that this medium will afford me the future I am supposed to have. - T. Robert Japanese Translation Pending Dutch Translation Pending French Translation Pending
I was born in 1962 on an Air Force Base in Rome, NY. (I like to tell people I was born in Rome). Shortly afterwards my Family moved to Germany, It is here that I can recall my earliest childhood memories. At age 4 or so, we moved back to the state’s and eventually settled in New Mexico. Here I was exposed to Native American Reservations and the arts and crafts they produced. It is these memories and recollections that would serve me today.
Although I was intrigued by jewelry and finished clay pieces is was the clay itself that found my undivided attention. We lived in a trailer and often times I would crawl underneath where the dogs were lying about in hollowed out holes. Recognizing what they were laying on, I would use my hands to pull away the sand until I too could find the material to create my own cool divot in the earth. The warm sand moved aside, gave way to reveal cool, smooth, damp terra cotta earth. Holding is against the skin gave instant relief. I began playing and building with the maluable material. Emulating the craftsman I witnessed on the reservations, I soon found myself building Indian villages with adobe fences around them. Building on any surface I could find... My parent’s response was to “move that s--t out of the driveway”. My villages soon became a concentration on just one form, the Indian bread oven. The dome shape that could be found on almost any Native American property. A clay oven, which coincidently looks just like many kilns, was used to bake bread. I was obsessed with this form and reproduced it in miniature time and time again on cardboard and scrap pieces of wood. Left in the hot desert sun the clay would dry, split, crack, and crumble. To me this process only made it better. I was creating my own archeological artifacts.
When I was not playing in the dirt, I was hiking up to the Forest Ranger station. Collecting arrow heads and cool looking rocks and sticks along the way. With my pockets stuffed full, hands face and clothing filthy with the mostly dark red earth, my mission was clear. To get to the station to see if any new Smokey Bear “stuff” was in pencils, rulers, coloring books, anything I could get for free. The story of the bear that survived the historical forest fire was more then intriguing for me it was fascinating. I took to heart the lessons of dealing with fire safely. With that being said… I was always careful when I played with fire and thankfully never burned anything down. Although there was a bit of panic on my part when a small straw fire temporarily got out of control in the goat barn. It was a lesson well learned and I never built fire again with out a hose right next to me.
As with many occupying activities of childhood, other things took my interest. I found myself in New Hampshire during my secondary years. Still very intrigued by the earth I acquired my first piece of stoneware pottery. Life has a way of moving you along and suddenly at age 32, living in Manhattan I realized I had lost that connection with the earth and I was not happy about it.
I quit my job, moved to Florida, bought a pottery wheel, went back to school and set out to change my life occupation. To reconnect with the earth and find that joy I experienced as a little girl playing with the material that kept me endlessly occupied. It was when I learned about kilns and firing the clay that I realized my entire childhood experiences culminated into what amounts to the steps that led me to my destiny.
I am endlessly fascinated by the material and processes of clay. Today, I create clay art that is vessel referenced, and atmospheric fired allowing the firing process to influence the surface color and texture of my pieces. I lean toward making work that is organic and abstract in form with a particular slant toward the Asian esthetic. Surfaces for me should juxtapose both visually and viscerally the values of texture encompassing rough, smooth and sharp. For the last couple of years I have concentrated on 4 basic bodies of work, all of which relate to landscape and sky. Platters that deal with the night sky and astronomy. Japanese pillows that explore my intrigue with the Islands use of earth and land for crops, and wood fired pots that deal with simple organic forms that allow the firing process to envelope them, creating a tactile canvas of shape. My most recent work also explores landscapes with hand built weed pots.
I look back at my life and with hind sight realize. I am where I am supposed to be, doing what I am supposed to do and ever so excited about the prospects that this medium will afford me the future I am supposed to have. - T. Robert Japanese Translation Pending Dutch Translation Pending French Translation Pending
Although I was intrigued by jewelry and finished clay pieces is was the clay itself that found my undivided attention. We lived in a trailer and often times I would crawl underneath where the dogs were lying about in hollowed out holes. Recognizing what they were laying on, I would use my hands to pull away the sand until I too could find the material to create my own cool divot in the earth. The warm sand moved aside, gave way to reveal cool, smooth, damp terra cotta earth. Holding is against the skin gave instant relief. I began playing and building with the maluable material. Emulating the craftsman I witnessed on the reservations, I soon found myself building Indian villages with adobe fences around them. Building on any surface I could find... My parent’s response was to “move that s--t out of the driveway”. My villages soon became a concentration on just one form, the Indian bread oven. The dome shape that could be found on almost any Native American property. A clay oven, which coincidently looks just like many kilns, was used to bake bread. I was obsessed with this form and reproduced it in miniature time and time again on cardboard and scrap pieces of wood. Left in the hot desert sun the clay would dry, split, crack, and crumble. To me this process only made it better. I was creating my own archeological artifacts.
When I was not playing in the dirt, I was hiking up to the Forest Ranger station. Collecting arrow heads and cool looking rocks and sticks along the way. With my pockets stuffed full, hands face and clothing filthy with the mostly dark red earth, my mission was clear. To get to the station to see if any new Smokey Bear “stuff” was in pencils, rulers, coloring books, anything I could get for free. The story of the bear that survived the historical forest fire was more then intriguing for me it was fascinating. I took to heart the lessons of dealing with fire safely. With that being said… I was always careful when I played with fire and thankfully never burned anything down. Although there was a bit of panic on my part when a small straw fire temporarily got out of control in the goat barn. It was a lesson well learned and I never built fire again with out a hose right next to me.
As with many occupying activities of childhood, other things took my interest. I found myself in New Hampshire during my secondary years. Still very intrigued by the earth I acquired my first piece of stoneware pottery. Life has a way of moving you along and suddenly at age 32, living in Manhattan I realized I had lost that connection with the earth and I was not happy about it.
I quit my job, moved to Florida, bought a pottery wheel, went back to school and set out to change my life occupation. To reconnect with the earth and find that joy I experienced as a little girl playing with the material that kept me endlessly occupied. It was when I learned about kilns and firing the clay that I realized my entire childhood experiences culminated into what amounts to the steps that led me to my destiny.
I am endlessly fascinated by the material and processes of clay. Today, I create clay art that is vessel referenced, and atmospheric fired allowing the firing process to influence the surface color and texture of my pieces. I lean toward making work that is organic and abstract in form with a particular slant toward the Asian esthetic. Surfaces for me should juxtapose both visually and viscerally the values of texture encompassing rough, smooth and sharp. For the last couple of years I have concentrated on 4 basic bodies of work, all of which relate to landscape and sky. Platters that deal with the night sky and astronomy. Japanese pillows that explore my intrigue with the Islands use of earth and land for crops, and wood fired pots that deal with simple organic forms that allow the firing process to envelope them, creating a tactile canvas of shape. My most recent work also explores landscapes with hand built weed pots.
I look back at my life and with hind sight realize. I am where I am supposed to be, doing what I am supposed to do and ever so excited about the prospects that this medium will afford me the future I am supposed to have. - T. Robert Japanese Translation Pending Dutch Translation Pending French Translation Pending
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