rooster research

large platter 17"x17" (this piece is unfired at the moment) with salt & pepper cellars as a chess board. These items will be available from my show FOLKLORE at the Candystore
November 8th through December 7th

It has been interesting thinking about folkloric traditions and imagery and how I might reinterpret them with my own visual vocabulary. Having come from a culture where the "old world" still very much exists (Hungary) these motifs have always been a part of my everyday life...As some might say "normal". My family immigrated to the United States in 1956 from Hungary, escaping the Russian occupation. I also lived in Hungary when I was nineteen (in 1983-1984) and in the early part of this century I worked with a ceramics factory in the south of Hungary in a town called Hodmezovasarhely (translated it means the the town on the beaver plane, which if it were in the United States be called...Beaverton). The opportunity to work with the factory came via a fabulous woman named Maggie whose company, Synergy Designs, worked with the factory in Hungary producing table top and decorative ceramics. Maggie took me under her wing without ever having any design experience other than my own studio work and my Hungarian heritage and together we created a line of ceramics that was produced under my name for her company. (Synergy Designs is no longer in business and the line was discontinued in 2002). It was at this time I had the most amazing opportunity to get an up front view of my own heritage's ceramic tradition. I have to admit at the time, the whole "folksy" motif did not really do it for me. Never the less, I am never one to disregard things completely just because it is not my "thing". I can always find something to appreciate. I was able to see the hand painters working on traditional designs and I spent a lot of time looking at the factories private collection of traditional Hungarian ceramics. I saw more rooster motifs than I care to admit. Though I was not aware of it then something was quietly brewing in my psyche and poof out it comes now, seven years later, in these new pieces that I am creating for my upcoming show.

thanks!

the long list

• My relationship with mother (we did not speak for nine years). We are very close now and talk regularly.
• My big sister (who was a mother to me when my mother wasn’t being a mother).
• That I am able to make a living doing what I love.
• All the times I have been in love (a lot!).
• To lose love(s). It has humbled me and taught me to let go.
• That I am still falling in love.
• My friends. (Who have been family to me when I thought myself an orphan).
• My Father. Who shipped me off to Hungary when I was nineteen and changed the course of my life.
  
• My big brother. Who built model cars with me for and giving me my first car when I was sixteen (a datsun 1967 411).
• That I can run five miles at the age 42!
• My health! My health! My health!
• That I never smoked, got into drugs or got pregnant as a teenager. (See above; thanks to big sister).
• For all of my travels to amazing places and All the amazing people I have made friends with along the way.
• Mucineni (Aunt Muci in Hungarian) The famous circus performer who taught me that a woman could live out her dreams.
• My Mom (again!) who taught me the love of food.
• OH and again my mom, who sewed all my clothes for me when I was little (and even some now) even though she hated sewing.
• My fabulous, kind and generous neighbors (and their very cute dog Karina)
• My studio mate, Beni. It couldn’t get any better!
• Twenty years of restaurant experience. Oh the things I have seen and heard!
• The friends I have made working in restaurants. The most brilliant people I know. Never and I mean NEVER underestimate the wisdom of a food server.
• That I can still spin pizza dough. (My first restaurant job).
• My sweet little apartment in this great city.
• Being surrounded by Artists and Craftspeople.
• That the earth is still spinning. We need to take good care!
• Music.
• Cookies. I love ‘em and life just wouldn’t be as sweet with out them.
• All the amazing plants and animals that inhabit this planet.
  
• That George Bush will be out of office very soon! I still can’t stand the sound of that man’s voice.
• The Schnick family. Who turned me on to Art and continually inspire me. Molly and Susannah, the closest I ever came to having children of my own, and who are now my friends.
• To all of the people who continually support me and what I do. That means YOU!
• Blessings to all of you. Remember to love one another. Even if it means you have to do it while the T.V. is blasting a football game.