Today we’d like to introduce you to Thomas Alban.
Hi Thomas, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
In the spring of 2000, I moved to the Mojave Desert. I instantly found this place, so inspiring. At the time, I was making cement sculptures and fountains and was having a difficult time finding platters to fit the fountains and the pumps. I had the idea of just getting a potter’s wheel and a kill, and making these rather large platters rather naïvely, shortly after that, I was visiting some friends when they got their water three. The water truck backed into my car, giving it a nice dent in the hood. Couple weeks later, I get a check in the mail from their insurance. I was fine driving around in an old car with an extra dent. It sort of helped me fit into this place a little better; I spent that money on a potter’s wheel and kiln. Driving home with the potter’s wheel in the car was a strange feeling. I knew that a big shift in my life was about to take place. I fell in love with the process immediately. I rented books from the library and studied page after page how to throw Pottery; this was all before YouTube. After only a few months of practicing, I entered a local Christmas craft show. I remember being rather nervous, showing these funky little naïve pieces. At the end of the two-day show, I ended up making more than I usually do in two weeks of construction work. I was rather happy with that and decided I’d give it a try and see how long I could make this work. It’s been over 20 years now. And I still very much love the process of clay.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Is a full-time artist is not an easy path. For the last 14 years, I’ve had a studio and showroom in Pioneertown. I no longer do art shows. Fortunately, I stay busy enough trying to keep the showroom filled. I work with a great team of people now. There’s always that Balance between creativity and the business of art. Keeping this boat afloat does take a lot of time. I don’t get a timecard to clock in and out with. It’s pretty much a constant thing. During the day, I work at the Pottery. And in the evenings, I work in my home studio, focusing on wall sculptures, and other art pieces. I’ve had to learn how to wear many different hats. I am fortunate to live in a beautiful place that offers a lot of inspiration to me.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Since the Covid lockdown, I’ve started a new series of wall sculptures. These are intricately carved tiles or bricks, as I like to call them that come together to make their own stories. Through that process, they’ve really started to create their own language. There’s also a lot of Process creating them. First, I’ll draw out the shape that they’ll be. Then, I make copies of that and start drawing out what the story is in them. Then I’ll roll out the Clay, lay all the bricks out and start carving them. I’ve learned that I cannot rush these pieces. They need to dry quite slowly so that they don’t warp. I’m also working on a series of Faux Bois (like wood) vessels. I’ve seen other ceramic artists make teapots and things that look exactly like a stump of wood but for me. It was important to retain the idea of a vessel or that which holds something. I see the wall sculptures as that as well, something that holds a story. I’ve been able to create pieces in which I often get asked, how did you glaze the inside of wood? I appreciate the conversation that takes place between the material, Clay, and how the form ends up. I have a fascination with different materials, textures, light, and shadow. From smooth to rough from the sky to the rock. From a fixed form to a collapsed form. The texture of wood and the texture of water. That moment, you see the shape of the wind through dust or grass. The folds of fire in the sky of a partly cloudy sunset. I’m grateful to be a self-educated artist would informs me as my inspiration, I have not been taught what to think. I would rather respond to the nature of materials and search for art from that place.
We love surprises, fun facts, and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
Being self-educated in this art, the mistakes that have been made have been some of my best teachers. That’s one thing I meant when I had mentioned the conversation with the material. Sometimes I find myself arguing with gravity, and sometimes gravity wins, producing a shape or a form that I certainly wasn’t trying to build, but sometimes those inspire still other forms. The firing process can also bring many surprises. Once, I had contaminated my kiln with free radicals, and subsequent firings caused the glaze to peel off of pieces. I ended up ruining a bunch of shelves, which was expensive, but I would’ve never guessed what the clay would look like when the glaze is removed from a piece, so that inspired a lot of my work. Crackes something that cannot be avoided also. I have a line of pieces that embrace the cracks really brutalist in the sense of just allowing Clay to be Clay. Sometimes, it’s difficult when it happens, but I’ve learned to embrace it.
Contact Info:
- Website: mazamar.com
- Instagram: mazamarartpottery
- Facebook: mazamar
Image Credits
Shiela Sasek
Bill Green
Thomas Alban
