Dean Adams
Artist Statement
“I likened the emergence of Light to a manifestation of two brothers, knowing quite well that there are not two brothers, nor even one. But I saw that one is the embodiment of the desire to be, to express, and one (not saying ‘the other’) is to be, to be. The latter is non-luminous, and the former, prevailing, is luminous. This prevailing luminous source can be visualized as becoming a wild dance of flame that settles and spends itself into material. Material, I believe is spent Light.”
Louis I Kahn
The architect Louis Kahn, while not specifically writing about ceramics, very articulately describes the relationship between clay and the fire in a wood-fired kiln. My architectionic ceramic sculptures are made to be fired in the wood kiln. Specifically, I fire in anagama-like cross-draft kiln in which the fire violently attacks one side of the piece, leaving the other side in the shadow of the flame. As the flame changes shape and velocity moving through and around the pieces it affects the color of the clay. Flame, atmosphere, and ash mark the surface of the clay and interact with the chemical make-up of the clay, leaving a permanent record or map of the fire. My pieces are designed and constructed in ways to reveal the flame and to communicate the sensitivity and beauty of the materials and process involved in make and firing the piece. I visualize these works outdoors in the landscape or garden, their earth tones standing in a paradoxical harmonious contrast to the bright colors and greenery of the plant life.
“In the bright crystal of your eyes
Show the havoc of fire, show its inspired works,
And the paradise of its ashes.”
Gaston Bachelard
