Doug Hanson's Artist Statement
I believe that most of the elements in an artist’s work can be found
in the past. Thus, it is rare that the artist is the original creator
of those elements. The creative part comes when those influences are
combined, based on the artist’s interests and experiences.
For almost four decades I have devoted my art making energies towards
works primarily in clay. I began that career as a sculptor who made a
few pots. However, visiting internationally known potters, plus museums
filled with pots while on a one-year Fulbright Teaching Fellowship in
England reversed my production completely. Since that year, with the
exception of a 2006 outdoor sculpture commission at Kirkwood Community
College in Cedar Rapids, I have made only pottery. Coming from the
functional life of a Midwestern farm family I am sure had a hand in that
decision.
Those elements that make up my pots such as the sturdiness of the
“Medieval Jug” with its thick rim and substantial base have become part
of my pitchers. The altered rims of my basins and platters are mostly
from a 17th Century Japanese Shino Bowl. Those Western and Eastern
influences come together in the earthiness of the soda fumed skin on
bare clay exteriors, but with a smooth glaze covering the interior
surfaces. All these elements are put together to hopefully form a
cohesive whole, but equally important in my work is the consideration of
the function of each as it is to be used in our eating and drinking.
-- Doug Hanson
