It can bE what it becomes

SCULPTURE SPACE NYC
NOVEMBER 4 - DECEMBER 3, 2002

I started working in clay in 1967 and went on to have a professional career teaching and making large, coil-built ceramic sculpture based on ideas about the vessel and nature.

In 1992 I followed an interest in healing and went back to school to become an acupuncturist. After graduation, I maintained a rural private practice for twenty-five years.

This show marks my return to ceramics after a thirty-year hiatus. There is one important lesson that I brought with me to this new work. As an acupuncturist, I often would have what I thought was the best treatment plan for a patient… but it was only a preconception. When an individual walked through the door, I had to respond to who that person was and to what they needed in that present moment. To be sensitive to the energy, I had to let go of preconceived notions.

Now, back in the studio, in my 70’s, I strive to remember that lesson, and to listen and shift in response to what the material asks for. The ideal is to improvise and stay out of my own way. I want the process to be joyful and the coils used in construction to be dynamic, playful, and liberated. I chose vases and candelabras because they are opened-ended formats and have celebratory roles in our lives.

I want to thank Sculpture Space NYC – The Center for Ceramic Arts for their support and encouragement and for creating such a perfect environment for ceramic artists. And to Glenn Adamson for his insight and enthusiasm. Also, thanks to Northern Lights Candles of Wellsville, New York for their generous support and Brian Oglesbee for his great eye.

Graham Marks

Graham Marks has taught ceramics at Kansas State University, Rochester Institute of Technology, and from 1986-1992 was Head of Ceramics at the Cranbrook Academy of Art. His work has been exhibited internationally and collected privately and by numerous public institutions including Yale University Art Gallery, Detroit Institute of Art, The Everson Museum Syracuse NY, Museum of Art and Design NYC, Cranbrook Museum of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI, Stedelijk Museum, ‘s’Hertogenbosch the Netherlands, The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia, and The National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. Graham splits his time between Brooklyn and Alfred, New York.