Check Out Alan Goldin’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alan Goldin.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I began drawing even before I could read or write. I started by imitating my sister’s drawings, although she didn’t continue with art, and eventually developed my own style, being influenced and inspired along the way by Dr. Seuss and Joan Miró. I spent time drawing cartoons and had a comic strip published in a local New York City newspaper and a line of greeting cards in some NYC stores. Simultaneously, I kept making jewelry and eventually the drawings and the jewelry merged and I began creating my own shapes in jewelry using resin, then sterling silver (using the Lost Wax technique). As much as I loved working in wax and seeing my shapes converted to precious metals, I wanted more immediate results and started working with sheet metal. Wanting to inject some color into those pieces, I learned how to work with enamel on copper. When I retired, I took a course in ceramics, with the goal of taking my two-dimensional drawings and turning them into three-dimensional, sculptural objects. The next step would be to make them come alive, but the technology for that hasn’t been invented yet. Still, I have always considered my drawings to be snapshots of creatures who can walk, swim, fly and float. They are alive, to me.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It certainly has not been a smooth road. My work still appeals to a very small segment of the population. Sometimes it seems that one has to get to know me personally in order to appreciate my artwork. As a result, I’ve mostly sold pieces to friends, who see the work as an extension of me. I still hold out hope for a larger audience some day. Aesthetically, I’m a minimalist, and I feel my shapes are unique enough to stand on their own, without a lot of embellishment. But sometimes it seems that, unless you create very busy, overworked art that demonstrates multiple techniques, people tend to find my pieces too simplistic. But to me, it’s much like music: strip away all the embellishments and see what you’re left with; if it’s enough, it should be able to stand on its own.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
In the course of my life, the answer to these questions would have changed a number of times. Currently, I am working exclusively in ceramics. Clay has allowed me to truly make my designs come alive, or as close to alive as they can. I specialize in organic shapes that people can’t quite put their finger on. Viewers always ask if a piece I show them is “supposed to be” something they should recognize: a fish, a snake, an amoeba, a person. But that’s not the way I create. If I name a piece “Parrot Fish,” it’s only because, once it’s finished, it looks to me a little like a parrot and a bit like a fish, but I don’t start out with that as my intention. And I hesitate to use names like that, because it leads the viewer in a specific direction. I like to let the viewer create their own associations; if it looks like a dog to you, that’s fine with me.

Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Happiness is a trigger word for me; I picture “happy” as laughing and carefree and joyful. Which is something no one associates with me! But I do feel “fulfilled” when I am able to take something I see in my imagination, in my mind’s eye, and turn it into something tangible that I can show to other people. Then I feel that I’m sharing a very real part of myself with the world. I think of art as a form of communication, and if I create something that feels true to me, and someone else seems to “get” it, then I feel I’ve actually connected with the human race. And that’s a feeling close to “happiness.”

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.goldinjewelry.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goldinjewelry/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/goldinjewelry
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alangoldin

Image Credits
Alan Goldin