Today we’d like to introduce you to Alexis Wade.
Alexis, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
My story is the age-old tale of a teenager who didn’t do well in Math and Science in high school and gravitated towards the arts. Thing is the only arts my high school had was ceramics and, very thankfully, an incredible teacher at the time, Mr. Price.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
Ceramics toes the line between the art world and the craft world, but I think that’s what continues to draw me to the medium. As with sculpture, you have an autonomous object that is being considered as much from the front view as from the back, and I love that there is consideration taken from every perspective. While some artists make standalone pieces, I tend to prefer objects that are functional; part of the joy I take in making things is incorporating them into my home and using them.
I also enjoy that clay is a fancy name for dirt. Really, I’m just an adult playing around with dirt all day in the studio when you break it down.
How do you think about success, as an artist, and what do quality do you feel is most helpful?
Empathy? This is kind of a big question. You can obviously dig much deeper, but even on a surface level, if I’m making an object, I take great care thinking about how someone will interact with something I make. If it’s an item like a coffee cup, I ask, “how will it feel in their hand? How is the weight distribution? Will part of the hand get too hot holding the cup if there’s a hot liquid in it?” You might say that’s just a facet of good/poor design, but it’s also just purposeful consideration of someone else.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
I sell my work online and at Otherwild, a boutique store on Vermont. Since I work full time as an Art Director in the film industry, ceramics is my outlet for my own creativity rather than helping interpret and materialize a Production Designer’s vision. As such, I don’t have time often to make a lot of volumes to sell my work, but I fully encourage people to get their hands dirty and try out ceramics for themselves. Continuing to grow the ceramics community out here in Los Angeles is a great boon to the studios that currently support a lot of ceramic artists.
Contact Info:
- Website: alexiswadestudios.com
- Instagram: alexis_s_wade
Image Credit:
Alexis Wade
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