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Sculptor or clay artist? And does the distinction even matter?

ISRAEL: There is a definite distinction; a clay artist is focused on

ceramic media. I was ‘raised in clay’ on the potter’s wheel, a practice I

still greatly enjoy, and I teach wheel-throwing once a year. I studied

with master throwers: Byron Temple at Pratt Art Institute, and David

Kuraoka at SF State University. My sculpting process is  best described

as slow-motion throwing;   I construct my pieces from large coils,

moving around the piece as I build. The alchemy of glazing, from

formula to application to kiln firing, are ceramic art practices requiring

years of dedicated practice. So clay is my foundation. However I agree

with Rene Di Rosa that what is important is “not what it’s made out of,

but what it’s made into.”

Are these creations left deliberately open-ended?

ISRAEL: Every piece has a story. I grew up reading animal stories and Andre Norton’s sci-fi, telepathic, post-apocalyptic beasts combined with the good luck of a city child exposed each summer to the fields, woods and barnyards of the east coast, from Maine to Pennsylvania. My  imagination was free to roam. I had pet fish, mice, an opossum, cats, a chicken, dogs and birds, and I spent many an enchanted moment watching the wild animals as well. What continually fascinates me is how an intensely personal piece gets claimed by the audience as their own story, even when the details informing the work are quite unique to me. So I have gladly abandoned any idea that I need to make the work general for it to communicate broadly. 

Is the artist is creating her own unique spirituality?

ISRAEL: I was raised by a painter and a writer from sharply different cultures, and one of the compromises they sought, in spiritual matters, was fellowship in the Society of Friends, or Quakers. So from an early age, I was taught universal tolerance, global pacifism, and fair sharing of resources. Probably the most powerful message was recognition of the divine spark in everyone, everywhere. I also benefited from the unusual practice, from six years old on, of sitting in silent group meditation for an hour each week, which developed my thinking and imagination through freedom from distraction.” 

What is it specifically about the medium of clay that you connect with as an artist? 

ISRAEL:The tactile aspect and the immediate freshness of the clay are irresistible, and the process is a metaphor for human life. There is an inherent paradox when working with so responsive a material as clay. Traces of touch – fingerprints, knuckle marks – are formed, moment by moment, with relentless fidelity. Such intimate contact of hand and clay remains far beyond the process, beyond even the life of the artist; it is a permanent record of impermanence.