Number Five

Richard Notkin recently presented a workshop at Florida Atlantic University. First, Notkin gave all of the workshop attendees one cubic inch of clay and told us to work with it for one hour. We could use any tools that we wanted. We did not have to use all of the clay, but we were told to stay quiet and work for the entire 60 minutes.

I worked on a small bunny sculpture; later turning it into the salt and pepper set you see here.

Notkin talked about Time as an element in art-making. Giving each of us a small amount of clay, a few guidelines, and the uninterrupted time to give the clay the care and attention it deserved proved to be a valuable gift. After all, our lives are defined by time.

As a resident artist and ceramics teacher, I do have lots of studio time. However, my To-Do Lists are always looming, and interruptions are frequent. The quality of time is not what it should be. Through Notkin's exercise, I learned that 60 minutes/week of guilt-free, studio play-time needs to be an essential part of my artistic practice.

#5 S& P ended up being in the resident artist exhibition at the Armory Art Center. My body of work for the exhibition centers on themes of play. The illustrations and figurative pieces, specifically, are about transcending one's present reality through the act of play. I am in the process of documenting the work in the show. Look for a blog post about it soon.