Question of Balance

The thing that I wasn’t planning on …, is that along with the sub-themes of the Baroque and the beheadings and all the fallibility of the human race, the subject matter was getting quite dark.

Critics were interested in the work and predicted that the best next path was to venture down the abyss to see how dark I could get. This was not interesting to me, and so I decided to do an about face and march back up the hill into the light.

This meant to understand that in lieu of the dark, the opposing mentality should now be given equal time. This does not mean that now I must be ‘Pollyannaish” but by standing back and looking more objectively, better questions can be asked. Thus, the series of, A Question of Balance, began.

I started a two-month residency in the Fall of 2001 at the Penland School of Craft in North Carolina. Two days before I arrived, 9/11 happened. Nearly twenty years ago and life as we knew it changed. It was here that I discovered my personal symbol that became the talisman for the series, The Inner Ear.

After seeing an illustration of the inner ear in a Time-Life Book about the miracle of sound, I knew that I found my key. An inner ear is necessary to keep one’s balance. When one has vertigo, the inner ear is damaged. Also, it makes a beautiful metaphor for “keeping one’s balance”; my greatest challenge. And finally, the inner ear is something that looks beast-like, or like a sea creature, or a strange alien fetus.

So, ultimately, it can be “the unknown”. The subject of the unknown is something that I acknowledge every day. The character of the unknown changes as I get older. When I was young, the unknown meant “adventure”. “No plans for tomorrow? No job? Well, I’ll drive to New York and see what happens!” As time goes on, the unknown changes from adventure to fear. So as a result, the potency of this symbol became elusive, changing its scale and character from piece to piece.

The sculpture called, Hobbled, is a key example. Using the visual trigger of Madonna and Child, the female carries a giant inner ear as if it were her baby. The mixed media throughout the works serves the piece in a few different ways. Understanding the power of materiality is mandatory. Clay is my dominant material, but clay cannot do it all. Fired clay (ceramic) is not flexible like rubber, it cannot flow like horse hair, it cannot have inherent grain with evidence of scarification and healing like wood does. So as a result, I respect all material and their inherent contributions and beauty, with ceramics being the grand mediator making the diversity of materials seamless and logical.

Secondly, material can be a directional device as in, Hobbled, the viewer’s eye starts with the face and then follows an oval composition that is guided by the natural sponge dreads and down the rubber hose of the inner ear loops. The eye then rests at the bottom “format” of the open book, and following the lines from right to left, climbs back up the left side, returning to the face again.

And thirdly, mixed media, comes in a couple of different ways of thinking, A: The artist may have a “Personal History" with an object or material that holds a direct meaning from a personal experience, and as a result, the work is potentized. B: The artist has a “Cultural History” with an object or material and understanding that there is a conscious or unconscious “baggage” that comes with using that material, such as steel or plastic which is manufactured with a history that may be included in the read, as opposed to natural sponge, horse hair and rose root, which is organic and has a less aggressive history. These differences will influence the direction of the read. Both carry a power that can potentize the work or dilute it.