CLAY Lecture Series
Male Tewa Potters in the 18th Century with Dr. bruce Bernstein
When: Monday, July 12th
Time: 6:00pm | Live virtual viewing Parotti Hall | Live Zoom viewing
Where: Live link will be posted below day of lecture for you to join from home | Don’t feel like viewing from home join us for a group viewing at Parotti Hall on the WNMU campus
Dr. Bernstein’s lecture is based on some of his ongoing research regarding Tewa concepts and understandings of Tewa pottery, centuries of continuity and change driven by internal factors and intellect of Pueblo people.
Bernstein has published broadly on Native arts and museums as well as curated over a hundred exhibitions. He presently serves as Historic Preservation Officer for the Pueblo of Pojoaque. His previous positions include director for collections and research at the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, chief curator and director of Santa Fe’s Museum of Indian Arts and Culture and Laboratory of Anthropology, and executive director of the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts. His PhD in anthropology is from the University of New Mexico. He has dedicated four decades of museum work to collaborative work and modeling new partnerships in research methodologies, curatorial principles, and practices, contributing to today’s working models of inclusive collections and exhibition programs.
Claude Smith III - A life story 1970-2011 - From Cold to Hot (Past to Present)
Claude will share a lifetime of occupation decisions throughout his extensive ceramics career, including his perspective: It's never too late to change - decisions, decisions, decisions.
When: Tuesday, July 13th
Time: 6:00pm
Where: Parotti Hall | WNMU Campus | Download map below for directions
Artist Statement
Clay is my passion, and throwing, my form of meditation. I love making pots. Having grown up in the agrarian Midwest, I love the hard work and physicality that clay provides. Whether functional, one-of-kind or sculptural, the creative act of making pots elevates the spirit of the maker to be enjoyed by the user.
I am a traditional potter. The vessel form began as serving a purpose in the kitchen or on the table. The functional vessel
is designed and crafted for specific purposes. Crafted and designed hand-made tableware lifts the mundane act of eating three meals a day to a higher level. Personalities, friendships, and acquaintances of the makers are remembered and experiences reflected in/with our use of these vessels.
The raku firing process is more immediate and spontaneous. The Marsh Series represents my efforts to recreate an impression of memories experienced as a young teenager, soloing in my canoe, pushing through cattails, lily pads and tall marsh grasses in search of song birds and ducks to photograph. Gestural brush strokes and minimal glaze marks integrated with the reduced (smoky) surfaces of the process spontaneously create implied ethereal landscape of backwater lakes, streams and marshes. The goal is the creation of the implied spiritual memories of times past.
Lastly, the Creation Series is more personal yet. By the grace of God seeing me through a series of medical episodes, I have been changed in the way I view life and my saggar-fired work.
I compose on the platter or around the vessel by arranging organic materials which burn out leaving an ash residue on
the vessel’s surface. Once the temperature rises beyond
Cone 8 (2257° F), the ash begins to flux and different localized atmosphere within the atmospheric conditions of a salt or soda kiln results. Total collaboration between the potter and the kiln is achieved with gratifying and surprising results. The process becomes one educated gamble where the potter either wins
or loses. Taking risks makes the experimentation worth the gamble. The more one experiments, the more the educated experience leads to success.
Creativity and History in Indigenous Southwestern Pottery with Dr. Eric Blinman
When: Thursday, July 15th
Time: 6:00 pm
Location: WNMU Parotti Hall | Download map below for directions to Parotti Hall
For more than two thousand years, potters have been shaping, decorating, and firing clay within the context of Southwestern cultural evolution. Today’s diverse and beautiful pottery traditions are built on a complex foundation that reflects both natural and cultural adaptations. Changing functional needs, resource potentials, and social and religious contexts have inspired technical innovations and aesthetic expressions in ceramics through the centuries. Modern peoples can appreciate Southwestern pottery as artistic expression, but the underlying tapestry of culture history is even more remarkable.
Dr. Eric Blinman was appointed director of the OAS in 2006 upon the retirement of Dr. Timothy D. Maxwell. Eric has been involved in archaeology in the western United States since 1967, focusing on Ancestral Puebloan archaeology since 1979. His undergraduate training was at UC Berkeley, and his graduate degrees in anthropology are from Washington State University.
Eric joined the OAS staff in 1988 and served as an acting director for the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture in 1999. His research activities have included paleoclimate studies, tribal consultations, archaeomagnetic dating, and reconstructions of the social history of Puebloan peoples. However, he is probably best known for his research on pottery and textiles and for his participation in OAS educational programs throughout New Mexico. In the summer of 2007 he participated in a colloquium, Past Climate Change: Human Survival Strategies, hosted by the king of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf, in Narsaq, Greenland.
Texturing and Building with Slabs with Catherine Russo
this event has been canceled due to unforeseen events - thank you for understanding.
Catherine is a returning native of Grant County, New Mexico. She retired in 2016 after 37 years as a K-12 art educator in New Mexico, Colorado, and most recently Wisconsin. In 2015 she established the “Roots Cellar" as her home studio and began a process of rediscovering her roots by way of her artistic endeavors. This took her on a journey of confronting past trauma and choosing to be the clay that surrenders to “The Master Artists” redemptive touch.
Catherine has been building sculptural forms using textured clay slabs since the early 80’s. As a lover of metaphor, she sees her work as a visual representation of the markings of life’s process on our bodies, souls and spirits. Her process deeply resonates with the healing power of touch, prayer and spiritual mindfulness. Catherine creates unique, one of a kind, deeply intuitive pieces and has frequently been told that her work speaks to the viewer in very personal and sometimes cathartic ways.
Hikaru Dorodango | The art of mud with Bruce Gardner
When: Friday, July 16th
Time: 6:00 pm
Location: Murray Hotel Texas Street Entrance | 200 W Broadway St, Silver City, NM 88061
Bruce Gardner specializes in the Japanese art of Hikaru Dorodango which he will discuss in depth. They are balls crafted from soil, molded by hand into perfect spheres, dried, and then polished to create a sheen. A traditional pastime among children in Japan, Gardner has studied the art for 20 years, refining his technique in creating one-of-a-kind spheres from soils found throughout the state of New Mexico.
Bruce Gardner, author of ‘Dorodango: The Japanese Art of Making Mud Balls’, will discuss the origin and elements of Hikaru Dorodango and demonstrate his technique in the various stages of the process.
