Fri 25 May 2007
Who inspires you?
Oh, no one in particular, but I must say that I get ideas from almost everyone I see in public. For example, if I see and old woman wearing sweater with a crab on it, I might just make something that has to do with crabs! But most likely the crab won’t be just a crab; it’ll be a unique crab with its own “personality.” To tell you the truth, sometimes I create stuff and what it ends up being almost feels as if I didn’t really make it. The expressions on my creatures’ features are not exactly intended; they just are. That’s the exciting part.
What inspires you?
Animals, cars, fruits, vegetables, general cuteness, household objects, weird Asian kitsch, telephones, and other random objects that don’t really have anything to do with each other. I love small things. It doesn’t matter what it is; I just like little details, precision (with spontaneity!), secrets, mysteries, humor, whimsy, and serious goofiness, and funny faces. Faces are a must. I also enjoy writing little stories about my creations. The stories are generally quite random and I don’t sit on ideas for very long. I just write in one blow. Sometimes the stories are semi-autobiographical (e.g. vegetarian pigs shopping at Whole Foods Market, etc.) and sometimes not. So I don’t know. I just dig making this stuff.
Where do you create?
It’s quite barbaric, to tell you the truth. I don’t really have a great table to work on, so work on the floor! I just start mashing clay together while sitting on the floor. I usually listen to the radio (NPR) while sitting on the floor. I have a cute little oven that I use JUST for clay (it was a hand-me-down). I also do not own a TV which is a great thing, and it is probably a big reason why I continue to create. After I bake and glaze, I set the characters up around my apartment. They reside either on my front table, on my nightstand, or in my bedroom next to a really funky miniature house that I built out of sticks and feathers. The pins that I made live on a large piece of maroon fabric that hangs in my bedroom. The pendants live in little box in a drawer because I haven’t found a better way to display them. Whatever. Clay is great.
How long have you been working with clay?
Well, when I was in 4th or 5th grade I had one of those Klutz-make-stuff-with-clay books. I went crazy and made a bunch of miniature stuff. Then I forgot about clay until last December. I had been making things with felt and had been selling a teensy bit on Etsy, but wanted another medium to work with. I was in California visiting my folks for the holidays and they were being totally nutso and intense, so one afternoon I drove to Michael’s and said, “I’m gonna buy me some CLAY!” I came home and made about 20 pendants and pins. A few days later I was going to perform with my quartet (Brad Dutz Quartet! Check out the website http://www.braddutz.com! Our new CD “When Manatees Attack” was just got great reviews from Jazz Times! Yaw Yaw!). I asked if I could sell the little things I made, and I ended up selling almost everything! So since then I have been making more and more things with clay. The creations themselves have evolved; I went from small pins and pendants to sculptures and little boxes. So who knows what’s next. Thanks for reading this silliness and have a nice day. :)
