Larry Kruzan on mon 26 oct 09
Tonight, as=3DC2=3DA0I began to write this I started by considering all the=
peo=3D
ple who have directed my journey through clay. As most of you know, I came =
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to clay late, having worked with lots of media - concrete, steel, glass, wo=
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od, photons=3DC2=3DA0and much more - but none have moved my soul like clay.=
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As I entered that first Clay Studio almost ten years ago (January 2000), I =
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thought it was going to be nothing more than a short interlude, a whistle s=
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top on a busy line.=3DC2=3DA0Little did I know of the power of clay. How it=
's m=3D
astery will challenge it's devotees though a lifetime - yet I approached it=
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in a moment of mid-life crisis. Sucked into the studio like glaze onto a w=
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arm, bisqued pot, I soon could not get enough time in that special place.=
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Studying photography at Bradley University, I decided to pursue a BFA as li=
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ttle more than a small extra challenge. After 30 years=3DC2=3DA0of being a =
very=3D
serious amateur art photographer I truly found the courses less than inspi=
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ring. In a word, easy. I did not need the discipline of higher learning to =
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mold my direction and keep me on path - life and few drill sargent's had do=
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ne that years before. Perfect scores on exams are easy if you know all the =
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answers, I had learned all that before the other students were born.=3D20
Then I needed to=3DC2=3DA0complete the degree's 3D requirement and Clay cam=
e in=3D
to my life. Here was the mountain=3DC2=3DA0that I=3DC2=3DA0returned to scho=
ol to fi=3D
nd.=3DC2=3DA0Here was the Eureka moment I was seeking, the door I did not f=
ind =3D
opened before I got there - I had to WORK at it just to be average - Not a =
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situation that I could allow to stand - I would learn this skill by gum! I =
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signed up for a BFA in both fields of study.=3D20
As the true level of my incompetence dawned on me I realized that clay was =
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not like the other medias, it was a moving target. Each step you gained on =
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it only opened previously unseen doors that would reveal more tantalizing c=
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hallenges further down the path.=3DC2=3DA0Drawn by the seductive spin of th=
e wh=3D
eel I fairly lept over hand building to get=3DC2=3DA0to it - only to discov=
er t=3D
hat I had not fully learned the lessons I needed from handwork - one jump f=
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orward, two awkward steps back. I really was like a schoolboy. Fun=3D20
The path that I was following was not new to those around me. My contempora=
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ries (the professors in the department) had each been there too. Over the w=
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inter break I was invited to come=3DC2=3DA0to the studio and work on a few =
prob=3D
lems. There I discovered almost every professor in the art department explo=
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ring clay as I was. Outside of the "normal" student/professor relationship =
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they eagerly related how they each loved to work with clay as much as their=
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"real" art. For the next couple years we shared this unspoken affair of th=
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e heart during each semester break, we were just potters working, joking, c=
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ritiquing each other as equals - in clay.=3D20
Then when class resumed each assumed their usual distance, except for the o=
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ccasional wink or nod when I would show up with some new pretty, fresh out =
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of the kiln.=3D20
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About this time photography was overtaken with one of those technological e=
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vents that was going to change it as much as color did. Digital. It had bee=
=3D
n lingering in the background like an awkward child that didn't fit in unti=
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l suddenly digital images became as good as 35mm film for most things. It c=
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hanged everything for me.=3D20
I discovered that the reason I loved photography was the process of the dar=
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kroom. Up the the point where a fine art print is being made there is littl=
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e difference in film or digital - the darkroom was where the magic was! It =
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was in the darkroom that I found my true love of photography - I could make=
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a B&W print that would move your soul to tears but the same image in digit=
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al was just another print.=3D20
Funny, I didn't even have my mid-life crisis diploma=3DC2=3DA0yet and I was=
alr=3D
eady obsolete. Thank goodness there was still clay! After 40,000 years I do=
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ubt that it will every be done away with in my lifetime. I don't think I co=
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uld stand another reset at this stage in my life.=3D20
So who were my real influences, teachers and such? A lot of folks right her=
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e on clayart, folks like The Mayor and Joyce, David Hendley, Bill Shinn, (H=
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and builders - go figure!), Stephen Hill (one of the first potters that had=
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a style I could understand), lots of folks I have never met but their work=
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inspires from Ceramics Monthly, Pottery Making Illustrated and Clay Times.=
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Bruce Howdle, who I asked one day "how long does it take to get on the whe=
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el what I see in my mind?" His wise answer, "6000 pound of clay".=3D20
Now here we are again, my most important teacher, influence, guide - clay=
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Good night all Claybuds=3D20
Larry=3DC2=3DA0=3D20
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