Blaine SHIRK

ARTIST STATEMENT


In September 1976 at the age of 36, I began a journey that would change my life.  My education and formal training are in the biological sciences, and until that time I worked as a medical research assistant in the fields of neurology and virology.  But restlessness had set in and a change was needed.  I would spend the next 14 months living in a van, traveling throughout the US and into Canada, not returning to Pennsylvania.

After settling in San Francisco in the late 1970’s, I began working as a commercial florist.  In 1982 I was introduced to the potters wheel and have pursued ceramics ever since, at first as a diversion, then earnestly in 1992 when I set up a clay studio with a like-minded friend.  Much of the first year was spent building a gas kiln, experimenting with glaze chemistry and firing technique, while attempting to assembly a body of work.  At one point after a series of disasters, I shelved all of my ideas and spent nearly a year building simple rectangular forms.  How far can I bend the clay? How thin can I stretch it? What proportions are most pleasing?  Nearly all thee vessels were consigned to the trash bin, but the experience was invaluable.  Finally in 1996 I began showing my work.

My bottles, jars and flasks are quite simple, really, yet each is imbued with its own personality — a tilt of the head, a slight list, a slouch — all contribute to its character.  The reason, I believe, is that each piece is made without a template or excessive measurement.  I use only a few simple tools to assemble each vessel from slabs of clay.  But clay has its own life, and must be allowed its role in the creative process.  That, as much as I, determine the outcome.  Letting go of control and accepting unexpected results is a lesson in itself.

I currently divide my time between my home in San Francisco, where I design and install small city gardens, and my studio in Sonoma County.