Artist Statement

Writing an Artist Statement can probably be a self indulgent exercise. Perhaps, one should start out really over the top and pare it back, to achieve some balance. Neither too pretentious nor too...matter-of-fact.

So what is my pottery about. It started out as a way to create artistically what I have been unable to express lyrically, for a while. And as an activity to replace the thrill of performing.

Once I sat at the wheel and started with the clay, it became, not a substitute, really, but an enhancement. An addition, or perhaps, an extension of the process of creating. As a lyricist or poet one creates the metaphor. But the clay, and the act of forming the clay and firing the clay, in this case, is the metaphor. Adamah, the earth. Dam, blood. And the burning, the fire...of Destruction and Reclamation. The earth is centuries full of Jewish blood destroyed by fire. Reclaiming it, making it useful through fire is a form of justice. "Here we are!!. In the Jewish homes you could not destroy! We are made whole from the earth back through the fire. We are strengthened and made whole."

I want my art to reflect that. The form of clay, the beauty of the fire, the useful purpose of the form in Jewish life.