Life & Work with Josh Friedman of San Pedro

Today we’d like to introduce you to Josh Friedman.

Hi Josh, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I’m a product of two creatives who met at art school, and have been making art as far back as I can remember. A big turning point in my artistic development came after seeing a photograph of Japanese Jomon pottery in college. I found it fascinating. Fast forward two years later, I jumped at an opportunity to represent Maryland in a teaching exchange with its sister prefecture, Kanagawa, Japan. For three years, during the week I taught English in public schools and also served as an English advisor at Shogakukan Publishing Company. On the weekends, I traveled around Japan to traditional ceramic towns and excavation sites. I experienced Jomon and Japanese pottery at its source, formed friendships with Japanese people and sensually experienced the landscape where the ceramics, I had only read about as a student, were made. All this highly impacted my aesthetic and art practice as I made artwork and exhibited in several galleries and museums in the Tokyo/Yokohama Metro area.

In the late 90s, I returned to the US for graduate work at Cranbrook Academy of Art, and have since supported myself through teaching art. In 2022, I shifted to a full-time studio practice. I love traveling internationally, and have continued to take part in workshops and exhibitions in Italy, Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
A couple obstacles come to mind. In business and in my personal life, I recognize that every challenge is an opportunity to learn. In terms of business understanding the varying ways business is handled in different countries and cultures takes time and patience. A personal challenge came in April 2019, a week after returning from two art residencies in southern Italy, I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins large cell B lymphoma. A tumor had disintegrated much of my L1 vertebrae. I did 720 hours of chemotherapy and spent most of the year in bed. I’m grateful that my vertebrae grew back and I’ve now been cancer free for six years. My mentors and those who have always believed in my practice have been ever present. Their guidance and vigilance has helped me beyond measure.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
In some ways, I liken my creative practice to being kind of like a farmer. Respectfully working in collaboration with nature and the landscape, I pursue ideas in different modalities, different fields of creation. Sculpture, mixed-media drawing, photography and recently, to a large extent, collage. Work begets work, switching back and forth amongst the crops, ideas all growing and coming to harvest following their respective cycles. Formally looking at the work, there’s a consistent interest in exploring surface, light, texture and time. Often I employ simple, direct repeated actions to realize my work. Everyone brings their own idiosyncratic experiences to their work, mine draws inspiration from extensive travel in Japan and Southeast Asia and inward reflection.

Between earth and sky. The visual weight of my ceramic wall drawings appearing to float off the wall, is almost a contradiction. Watching the cast shadow of the object move across the wall behind it, time and light pass, impermanent. One of the crazy draws to clay is that it lives in a different time realm, it plays the long game and endures. A stable presence. Grounded.

Currently, I’m revisiting my work from the past 35 years. As my perception and understanding of our world has significantly shifted in the past few years, collage in both paper and clay, feels to be the most appropriate way of working at the moment.

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So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
I offer a series of small workshops and open studio sessions for groups up to four adults. During the week and on Saturdays, late mornings from 10 AM to 1 PM, and soon, early evenings as well. Those interested are welcome to sign up for my newsletter to be the first ones to find out about my next workshops and upcoming events, like San Pedro’s monthly First Thursday Art Walk. People are invited to reach out through Instagram or my website if they’d like to learn more about art and studio practice. Currently my website is more of an archive of previous work. Its forthcoming iteration will include a shop for original works, prints and other related merchandise.

Recently, I worked with two local businesses, Blue Water Clay and Calimucho Screen Printing to create a limited-edition, signed art print of the sculpture appearing in this article with the black background. It’s available in two sizes on cream, natural or white papers. Sales of this print will go along way supporting local small businesses and foster future collaborations. Reach out to me if you’d like to learn more about the print.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.joshfriedmanart.com
• Instagram: @joshfriedmanart

Image Credits
Josh Friedman