Today we’d like to introduce you to Dorothy Hoover.
Hi Dorothy, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I could say it started when I was in first grade, alll the way back in 1989. I went to a small private school in Pittsburgh, and we were lucky enough to take Clay class starting when we were only six. I took Clay with Ceil Leeper Sturdevant, a well-known artist in Pittsburgh, until I was a senior in high school. For some reason, I didn’t get back to clay as a medium until around 2018, and it brought me right back to that clay room at Ellis School.
I started taking classes again at Barnsdall with a friend. I made porcelain orange peels for a show at General Projects in Lincoln Heights, and my ceramic practice grew from there.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It’s taken me a long time to believe I can have a career as any type of artist, so I’ve been dancing around this since I graduated college in 2005. I’ve had more jobs than I can possibly remember, always avoiding being a full-time artist because it seemed so far-fetched and totally irresponsible financially. I do still work as a prop stylist and set designer on photo shoots, but now I always put my ceramics first.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My ceramic practice grew out of a desire to make the ephemeral permanent. The earliest pieces I made that I still make today include orange peels and styrofoam cups. Oranges were my guiding principle while I grew my body of work to include devil masks, lamps shaped like popcorn, and molding birthday cake candle holders. A potent symbol of Los Angeles, oranges and what they mean to this city is both fantastical and decaying. While so much of my work is fun and brightly colored, there is a darker undertone present in the grotesque teeth of the devils, the bulbous bizarre shape of popcorn stacked on top of each other, and what a pair of dice can represent luck or financial ruin.
Currently, I only make functional pieces, a sharp turn from my previous work creating sculptures reminiscent of theatrical models. I love brainstorming about what a home could need it never knew it did, like a door stopper or a tissue box, and creating them out of my signature style.
How do you define success?
In a city like LA, it would be silly not to speak about financial stability. While so many of us have multiple jobs to keep ourselves and our creative pursuits afloat, I want to be able to create full-time and pay me. I’ve always made art, even if that means making working on my one day off a week or a few hours here and there.
No matter what, I’ll continue to do that. I put so much time into my work that I’ve developed a deep and extensive catalogue of my personal interests, aesthetics, and techniques. I can come up with something in a few hours that I can be pleased with.
But how I define success for my future self is supporting myself on the work I create.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: lazzoceramico
Image Credits
Dorothy Hoover
