How does the artist find fresh inspiration? When and where do artists have the opportunity to be inspired? Often the answer is in nature or music, in the smiles of children, the caress of a lover, in poetry or dreams. And sometimes it arrives in another artist's work. Such is the case here. I first met
Tom Radca at a show in Idaho last summer. He introduced himself and told me he would be showing at the
Celebration of Fine Art come January. When Tom got his display ready for the opening of CoFA, I was immediately drawn to the earthy, rich quality of his ceramics, particularly the rougher glazes which have a wood-fire feel, and a slightly Japanese aesthetic. The large "tile walls", rounds and rectangles, intrigued me. I loved that the tiles are not flat and perfect. Their random curved corners and slightly bumpy surfaces made me want to touch them. The glaze designs felt spontaneous, organic, suggestive, and led me to imagining desert plants in the moonlight, soft, dark, a bit mysterious - like the desert, itself.
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detail Warm Desert Night
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| detail Warm Desert Night |
Tom, who in 35 years of throwing pots and making tiles, has never collaborated with anyone, chose to put his trust in me to bring my idea to amplify what I already saw in his work, but with my own style. This is the result - both a
Radca and a
Peckman - yet something entirely new, something neither, by ourselves, would have done - something by a "new artist."
We invite you to come to the
Celebration of Fine Art and see for yourself. We'll be here till March 16, but I don't think Warm Desert Night will be here that long! (If it's gone, we'd love to speak with you about designing a collaboration right for your space.)
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