Collage

Below are comments that Houghton professor Gary Baxter used to introduce a piece of art commissioned for the Inauguration, now displayed in the entry to the President's home.    

Whenever I start a new piece, I think about it as having two equal parts: DESIGNING and MAKING. I honestly don’t know which of the two I enjoy most, but I especially enjoyed the design process involved in making this inaugural piece because the space in the president’s house into which it needed to fit, had some very challenging features. First, there was its unusually high placement about 10 feet off the floor; there was the hanging light fixture which prevents an unobstructed view of the artwork; there were the angled lines of the ceilings; and there were the busy patterns of the ceramic tile floor (to which as a ceramist I thought I should pay at least some homage).

So, my first thoughts were about the difficulty any artwork would have trying to survive in such a visually hostile location. Don’t get me wrong, I think the entry to the president’s home is a fine space. Besides, I really can’t complain because I had a small hand in the design of this space when the house was under construction several years ago. In other words, I helped create these challenging features that I found myself up against.

When first asked about doing this commission, I was in the process of preparing to teach a course in African Art History, which caused me to think of the competitive role that the African art object often has to perform, especially objects that play a role in masquerade. MY WORK WAS TO BE SURROUNDED BY OTHER WORKS. And the masquerade became a metaphor for what I was doing: the light fixture was a lantern, my artwork a ceremonial object held high by a dancer, and the ceramic tile pattern on the floor the patterns of the clothing worn by the audience. In order for the art objects of the masquerade to be noticed, they employ asymmetry of form and composition, along with variety of color and texture. I felt that whatever I settled upon would also need to be ‘high-volume’.

Before long, the idea of a sort of collage came to mind. Collage achieves ‘HIGH-VOLUME” by creating a sense of order through chaos, asymmetry, imbalance and randomness. As a function of its abstract nature, collage appeals to conceptual thinking and symbolism. Sudden shifts in scale and perspective keep the viewer’s eye engaged. One minute you’re viewing trees from above, and the next minute you’re looking at them from the side. The result is a work that is able to hold its own against the visual competition.

Almost from the start, my idea was to ‘collage’ a few symbols that would allude to this PLACE where so many of us live and work. Most of these symbols, such as the reddish earthenware tiles with their actual thumbprints, are physical and tactile.

About 15 years ago, I had the good fortune to see dozens of Jomon vases in the National Gallery in Tokyo. I still remember the busy forms and exotic handles shaped by the artist’s hands, and especially the thumb depressions with their anonymous prints of people who had lived 10,000 years ago.

I needed lots of thumbs. And I was teaching a ceramics Mayterm, and many of my students were seniors, and some of them had probably begun their education by sticking their thumbs into a soft slab of clay in some kindergarten classroom, so I thought this would be a sort of full-circle way to finish their education.

I like the fact that some of the people who belong to these prints have moved on since pushing their thumbs into the soft clay tiles back in May. (Obviously, our mission would be defeated if we all stayed here forever.) But I also like the possibility that some of them, perhaps years from now, might, like President Mullen, return. Most of us here tonight have touched Houghton, and been touched by Houghton. There is a sense in which this sculpture is an artifact; a record of human interaction. So, thanks to those of you who belong to these thumbprints (and there is a sense in which all of us here tonight do)-you did a fine job.

Also, the thumbprint tiles were made from Houghton Creek clay, which added a dimension of physical authenticity to the work. The creek clay warped badly, and there was some interesting ingredient that definitely was not clay-I suspect little bits of naturally occurring gypsum-that actually exploded during the firing. But no harm was done, and the subtly pitted surface actually added interest.

There are also several star-like images used to suggest an aerial view of trees, similar to those architects use when making presentation drawings. A presentation drawing is of no value to a builder-rather, it is a visual map that suggests to a client what it would be like to live in a certain space. Symbols similar to these are also used in the Dream-time paintings made by Australian Aboriginals. The repetitive patterns these indigenous artists create are said to map out precise geological features such as a bend in the river or an ancient tree. My primary interest in these ‘tree-stars’ was their function as symbols of strength and beauty and protection. They help identify this place.

Of course the best thing is to let visual things speak visually. Hopefully, you would never  decipher the meaning of the various symbols because it wasn’t meant to be a puzzle. I just wanted to give you a GLIMPSE at some of the ideas that guided me as the piece evolved. Hopefully, President Mullen will invite each of you to her house someday, so you can really see it, and maybe then you’ll understand my masquerade metaphor.

I titled the piece ‘Common Elements’ to suggest the idea that this is a place all of us hold in common: Each of us own this place, and none of us own this place.

Elements is a reference to the diversity of people who have helped form Houghton, the composition of the raw materials, the physical and spiritual forces that shape the clay while it is still soft, and those same forces that make the record of the clay hard and permanent in the fire.

Many thanks to the inauguration committee for asking me to do this, and especially to President Mullen for being the source of the occasion.

Thank you.