What type of art is your passion?
Ceramic art (stoneware), some functional, some decorative, is my greatest passion. I also enjoy making walking sticks, mostly made from sotol and yucca flower stems, although I occasionally use wood, especially cedar.
For less than a year, I have been making cigar boxes, and I find them tremendously satisfying. I try to use repurposed material for these, as I feel it is in keeping with the tradition of making art out of junk. However, I also buy many of the more technically demanding parts from online suppliers. If a part requires a lot of time or investment in a new tool, I have the option of buying it already made, for a reasonable price. While it is fun to make something from scratch, it is not always practical.
How long have you been an artist?
I have been steadily making art since around 2013, when I moved to Carlsbad from South Florida. I had to retire early due to Parkinson’s disease. When I moved here, I helped my father from time to time with his construction business, but Parkinson’s and construction work do not always mix well. My father had taken up painting as a hobby in his forties or fifties, and he encouraged me to try my hand at pottery. I thought he was crazy, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try, and it might make Pop feel good. As is so often the case, he somehow knew me better than I knew myself. I joined the Carlsbad Area Art Association (CAAA) pottery studio, and in a matter of weeks, I was hooked. I consume a lot of information about archeology, and I find it fascinating to practice one of humanity’s oldest forms of “high tech.”
Around the same time I started pottery, I got the bug to make some personalized walking sticks from old yucca and sotol flower stalks. At the time, I was still able-bodied enough to enjoy day hiking, and it was fun to combine my enjoyment of hiking and reverence for nature with something creative. I would come up with some kind of graphic to tie the stick to our region. Various desert creatures were mostly used, as well as an extraterrestrial with a Zia tattooed on its forehead. Why? Because it’s where we live: Zia=NM and ET=SENM.
In the beginning, I would give away the sticks to friends and family. After a few years, I became more serious by wrapping paracord handles on them and selling the sticks at a couple of places around town.
More recently, I have begun making cigar box guitars. That evolved from my attempts to play blues harmonica, which started as a form of therapy to promote neuroplasticity for, you guessed it, Parkinson’s disease. I am only on my sixth build right now, so we’ll see where this goes. I hope to be able to actually play one of these instruments one day. I think my neighbors might hope I can learn to play even more so.
What motivates you to create?
I find inspiration almost everywhere. If something makes me laugh or say “wow,” I feel compelled to share it with other people. Sometimes I follow up on that compulsion, and it leads to a coffee mug with a silly face on it or an investment in a router so I can make a guitar neck with fewer sharp corners.
What is your ideal working environment?
My ideal working environment would be one where someone else cleans up the aftermath of inspiration. I have not found that place yet.
What aspect of art fuels your passion most?
I enjoy sharing inspiration with other people. I also like getting to know others who share the desire to create. I like to say about our pottery studio, “I came here to make coffee mugs, and I ended up making friends.”
Do you have words of encouragement for aspiring artists?
The more times you do something, the better you’ll get at doing it. A healthy arts community is a sign of a healthy community in general.
