This afternoon I was, yet again, lucky enough to tag along with the art grads to another artist’s studio. This was actually a joint visit, as Richard Notkin and Phoebe Toland are married and share studio space in Helena, Montana; we got to meet them both. I’ve been excited to (hopefully) meet Richard ever since I moved here. I saw the PBS Craft In America documentary just before moving and thought, ”Alright,  there are interesting thinkers in Montana!” Notkin’s work has always been about the state of the world and how we need to save ourselves from…ourselves (nuclear weapons, war, etc). He works with traditional forms like teapots and tiles, and you might also know about his ears.

The pile of ears has a few influences. One is the pile of shoes from Holocaust victims- he was raised with Holocaust survivors who taught him to pay attention to what was going on and change what he could. The ears vary in size from an inch to over a foot and are made of clay that’s rendered to look like stone. Their stony appearance is meant to represent deaf ears. In his studio among the many post it notes, he has listed  the old proverb “We were given only one mouth to speak, but two ears to listen.” His work is political (this collage speaks to his thoughts on the current administration) but in a sweeping way–even without the current administration, he’ll be pissed off about something.  He noted that he thinks all art is a political statement: artists are exercising their creative minds instead of the also human take-over-the-world urges.

All in all, he’s a really interesting guy and I love that he speaks his mind. That was what was so great about seeing him in the documentary. Parts of it were very hippie-esque but I remember him saying in the doc that he was angry and pissed off about the state of things– and he told me today that they fought hard to keep that in the film. 

 I’ll end with a quote from Notkin, posted in his studio: “I continue to make ceramic sculptures which reflect on the social and political dilemmas of our world. As André Malraux observed, “Art is a revolt against man’s fate”. Need I say more?”