ARTIST STATEMENT
Clay is one of my preferred mediums to work with. This vessel is an old piece that was part of the first exhibition in 1992 when WMG was established. My ceramic forms are organic and partly abstract. They hint at something alive without spelling it out.
Raku teaches you to let go. I pull the piece out red-hot, set it into sawdust. dried leaves, or paper, and the smoke does its work. From then on it’s out of my hands. Cracks open where I didn’t expect them. A glaze crackles, or burns off completely. The smoke leaves marks that I could never paint on myself.
It isn’t only the shape I love to make. It’s what happens between what I want and what the fire does. Every piece carries both, and none of them come out the way I imagined. I love being surprised.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Beate is a Chicago-area visual artist and volunteer at an important non-profit organization.
© Beate Minkovski