Father & Son- Circle
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Norm: Spoon is a category, similar to bowl, plate, or teapot. Within each category are infinite varieties of form, size, texture, abstraction, color, and emotion. We understand this shape, (the spoon); it has a rich inherent symbolism though which the most ordinary aspects of our life are transfigured into something timeless. My goal is to explore that reservoir and carve sculptures that people will view as treasured objects. My spoons are sculptures and my sculptures are spoons. Public collections such as the Carnegie Museum of Art, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Renwick Gallery, the Yale Art Gallery, and the Museum of Fine Art Houston have added my carvings to their permanent collections. In this collaborative work with my son, Andrew, I chose woods connected with his life and work. Apple from our back yard, cherry from the kiln wood pile of his sensei, where he apprenticed, and Japanese oak from where he lived in Japan for 4 years. I shaped each spoon to compliment the rough square, circle and triangle shape of his 3 pots. My pots are born in fire. My making process begins long before the firing, but every cut and scrape of my wooden tools, and push of my fingers relates to how the flames of the kiln will bring life to the surfaces I create. Andrew: My pots are a tangible record of my experience in the world. Cracking asphalt, a frozen lake, or strata of rock – all seen every day, but at a closer look they can be breathtaking. I create sculptural/functional forms whose surfaces are meant to slow time, and invite a closer look. In this collaborative work with my father, Norm, I made three sugar dishes, a form that yearns for a spoon to complete its function. I carved these three forms from a single large piece of clay, and fired them in a small wood and salt burning kiln. Each is glazed with an elm based wood ash glaze, and natural salt and fly ash deposit from the firing.