#16

Oak Boesky

563 Cedar Hill Rd

“I have a lust for gorgeous color, pure form, and great stories. The hardest part of being an artist is writing artist statements - trying to be both authentic and succinct. To tell folks about yourself and your work in 100 words or less… it would be much easier just to draw a picture. But of course, that is not the point! With clay, it is impossible to be anything but authentic -everything shows. How I handle the clay, whether I am impatient, patient, heavy-handed, or delicate. All this is part of what comes through in the form and on the surface and becomes part of the finished piece.  It is always more than the story I am trying to tell, and in reality, starts before I even begin to handle the clay.  What is my mood? Did I sleep well, have a good breakfast, drink enough coffee? Am I in a hurry, feeling rushed—because there is never enough time to do everything? When the weather turns nice, it will also become a choice between my flower gardens, my studio, catching up on business, and the house remodels that my carpenter husband and I began almost five years ago. Never mind walking the dog, having coffee with friends, going for a bike ride, and remembering that I live on an island in the Pacific Northwest and maybe head to the beach now and then. Notice I didn’t mention cleaning the house.  Maybe I should clone myself.  Do you think a clay me would do the housework? Maybe I should start working on that too. My early background is in painting and drawing, and I never really stray too far from that beginning. I am fascinated with how a simple line can convey so much meaning and tell us so much about the subject as well as what the artist thinks and sees. Mark-making in this way is who we have been since the earliest human times, so when I look at cave and rock paintings, or shards of ancient pottery, I see my lineage as a mark-maker and maker of things. As a ceramic artist, I know nothing has changed since the earliest makers walked the earth. We still make pots with mud, decorate them with minerals, and then fire them to preserve them and make them functional as useful objects or as art.  So what you see in my artwork is a dance between story-telling and lust for gorgeous color and pure form. I am fascinated with the chemistry of glazes and how mud is transformed in the heat of the kiln into something that has the potential to be around for a thousand years. I am equally fascinated with how these basic elements can be transformed into artwork that can convey emotion and meaning and maybe lead us to connect with one another a little bit more.”