In 1972, I was a third year graphic design student at Texas Tech and I took pottery as an elective. I'll never forget the first evening I sat down to "center" the ball of clay and I was astonished that I couldn't do it. I wrestled that sloppy ball of mud until I was covered. I was mesmerized by that spinning blob that refused to obey. Finally the maintenace crew kicked me out at 3am. That experience led to a twenty five year career as a ceramic artist from 1972 until 1997, in which I sold almost a million dollars of things I made from dirt. All of the works below are ceramic objects, either sculptures or mosaic paintings. In my quest to make something bigger than my kiln, I went to Spain and Italy to study the mosaic techniques of Antonio Gaudi in Barcelona and the Byzantine mosaics all over Italy, concentrated in Ravenna. I eventually created my own mosaic technique by starting out with a giant quarter inch wet slab of clay, on which I made an under painting with underglazes. Then I strategically cut it up so that it will fit in the kiln. After the bisque firing I would paint the overglazes and re-fire, a process of mulitple firings resulted in sumptuous layered glazes. The pieces are then re-assembled and broken up until it all fits together into one image. This is backwards from the traditional technique of using tiny pieces of terse, colored stone or glass which are used to build the larger image. I started out whole and worked backwards to smaller and smaller pieces until it all fits together. At the bottom of this page is my best graphic design experience, a 235 ft. x 35ft. backdrop printed on canvas.
