| Artist: mark knott (view artist gallery) | |
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| My journey with clay started when I was about 11 years old. I had access to the local high school clay studio and taught myself to make pots. It took several years. Since then I got a B.F.A. from the Kansas City Art Institute and my M.A, and M.F.A. From San Jose State University. Kansas City was an eye opening experience to the possibilities that I never before comprehended. There was more to clay than just pots. I did focus on the craft while there, but graduate school was a chance to change and grow. I quit making pots and focused on large scale sculpture. The school demanded an interdisciplinary approach and fostered risk taking. I worked on large drawings and paintings, printmaking and small bronze casting. Eventually I moved away from clay in order to speed up the work process and move through ideas. This was extremely liberating. I no longer felt tied to the process associated with clay. Once out of school and no longer having the state subsidized studio, mixed media large scale paintings seemed a logical progression. I continued down this path for the next 10 or 12 years. I was struggling with a social worker job and trying to make art and eventually quit and set up my clay studio. That was 4 years ago. Now I teach ½ times, work in my studio full time and am a dad; in a way the circle is complete for now. I find myself focused and happy doing studio work. I make both functional and decorative work which is soda fired. More about my the process later. I’m very interested in how people get from one point in there life to another. And in that journey what keeps so few connected to the art making process. For I believe it is the sum of ones life experiences that shapes their esthetics at any given time. |
