Dextra Quotskuyva is a Hopi potter, a renowned one, who in Charles King’s newest book Spoken Through Clay, relays the title of this post.
Its significance goes to the core of every “good” art collector. Will we seek the meaning of what we acquire, when the artist can be asked?
Recently I purchased a painting by an artist who can be characterized as the Robert Henri of Southwestern American Indian painters influencing more than one generation of painters, Frank La Pena. My next job is to add to the dimension of my appreciating the canvas by asking him about his intention in making this painting.
There is book research. There is online research. There is person to person investigation. Why imagine you understand an artist’s intent in carrying out a composition when you can query that person directly?
Their response may be disappointingly simple or it may delight and amaze you engendering even deeper respect.
Corinne Cain of SavvyCollector.com
Spoken Through Clay is available through the author, Charles King or via Amazon. Truly an in-depth expose of how very special clay artists evolved into the potters we hold in the highest regard today. This book shares the processes of becoming an important sculptor in clay, the physical side coupled with the corresponding mindset. Plus the photography is just plain gorgeous!