Monday, September 11, 2017

Octopus' Birthday

Still in use!
I’ve been painting octopuses practically since I first started playing with drawing on my pots, before I started diving, and long before I decided to be a professional potter. Over the years I’ve painted thousands of them, so much that their broken parts, softened by a noisy spin in the cement mixer, decorate and provide mulch in my yard. In addition to reading all the books about octopuses (the latest being, Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness which was delightful), watching documentaries and scavenging images, I love seeking them out under water.
Pacific Octopus (w/papillae)

This summer we encountered a severely tormented octopus, only 3 complete tentacles and under the constant menacing of garibaldis, off the Mexican Coronado islands just south of San Diego. I giggled and gushed so exuberantly that I filled my mask with water and sucked my oxygen like a maniac. I was like the double rainbow guy for the entire encounter and will be again the next time. This same passion guides my sculpting and painting, I love tangling the tentacles and placing their suckers just so. This year I received a commission to do a Cephalopod dish set, so my fascination was given business expense legitimacy (just like my diving trips). In doing this and my latest GoPro-recorded love-fest, I realized I have overlooked the glorious papillae that the octopus uses to change its texture. So there are new octopus designs for 2017 and more varieties of them too. I may have been doing this for a while, but I still adore it and it still feels fresh. Thank you, truly, for your support.

   In addition to sharing my passion for octopuses, which, if you’re a fan of my pottery, you likely are too, I am writing this to report that I will be off in Europe for the latter half of September to, amongst other things, celebrate my (and the Octopus') birthday.  Feel free to place orders while I’m gone, as I’ll keep track and make them when I return, fresh and possibly inspired in new directions.  There’s only one show left for me this year and it’s all the way in December (KPFA). In the meantime, I will be doing a Day-of-the-Dead celebration whose details I will hold close until I return…
        Stay well, Stay inspired, Stay joyful!
                 Thank you!
                          -Liz R
Argonaut

Flamboyant Cuttlefish 

Cuttlefish

Dumbo Octopus

Nautilus





Squid