Artist Statement
As a child, I loved to play “pretend.” My playmates and I dressed up in our elegant dresses, jewelry, and hats—usually my mother’s old clothes—and went into another world.
The bakery we maintained was filled with mud confections, and the world in which we served them was created from the wonderful books my grandmother read to us, their rich illustrations, the little furniture my dad made, and the doll clothes created by my mother and grandmother.
Most of all, this was before television came to our town. My parents enjoyed make-believe games and beautiful books, and they allowed us to completely immerse ourselves in fantasy. We played by the hour. We built leaf houses, snow forts, and exotic tent houses filled with satins and silks. In the winter months, our living room was given over to our toy train. We built bridges, towns, farms, and whatever else we could imagine When it came time to choose a career, I chose teaching. I majored in elementary education and taught for ten years before returning to school for a Master’s Degree in Art Education. The frustrated artist was beginning to surface.
I returned to teaching and also began painting landscapes in pastel on sanded paper. Most of these were sold through galleries.
In 1995, I married and retired from teaching so I could pursue an art career. Suddenly, having unstructured time on my hands was like being given a huge white canvas and being told, “You can paint anything you want.” The question became: What did I have to say that was so monumental, beautiful, or brilliant? And my dear new husband was quietly wondering, “What did I get into?”
Discovering Clay
I signed up for a ceramics class at North Harris County Community College, where I met kind and inspiring artists and a wonderful instructor, Roy Hanscom. I discovered that I loved working with clay—perhaps going all the way back to those childhood mud pies—and that hand-building was my thing. After a few semesters, life took a different path with the illnesses and passing of our parents, and school was put aside. During this sad time, Terry and I talked about our dreams and decided to follow a new and daring path.
While Terry was finishing his career as a computer consultant, I had the opportunity to design a new house and studio, right down to the wiring and plumbing. It was something I had dreamed about since childhood. We found the type of location we had envisioned. The land was his canvas, and the studio was mine.
The Great Clay Adventure
Once we were settled, “The Great Clay Adventure” began.
I was still wondering which direction to take until one day I put together the right combination, and Stanley With His Purse and Al and Te came into being. I knew then there would be a series. The ideas were endless.
The different characters—with their attitudes, foibles, and whatever else pours out of the mixture—are blended from life’s experiences. One of life’s greatest gifts is the imagination. We have but to allow ourselves to honor this gift, and we can achieve our dreams.
The fun and satisfaction I receive from creating my sculptures is not complete without sharing them with others. I enjoy hearing what people have to share and how they view my work.
However people view my work, I hope it will be an enjoyable journey into the world of imagination. Once I relaxed and allowed myself to play with my “art” instead of taking it so seriously, I learned to honor my imagination rather than dismissing it as “wasting my time” or “daydreaming.”
For me, reaching this realization was a major struggle. It has been a wonderful surprise to discover that others seem to like these characters and consider them art. What joy!
Since publicly showing my work, I have discovered that viewers enjoy hearing about the characters. So I thought I might try writing tales involving some of them.
What a challenge—my hat is off to all writers.
— Ruth Hart Wilson