Delicate

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About the artist

Roderick Oknich

My first attempts with clay were so frustrating that I quit for some time.

While admiring the complex forms and details of the pottery and sculptures in Taos galleries one evening, it struck me that what I wanted to create was just the opposite.

When I came to New Mexico, it was with the intent to “be still and know the Lord”, to quiet and simplify my life so that I could learn to listen to my true self and my Creator. When I turned my focus on aligning my work with my new life, the clay began to talk. The pieces that began to form were softer and simpler and I believe wondrous. Now I let the clay create itself and I speak through the clay.

Biography

Roderick has worked with the elements in a very close way all his life, but from very different perspectives.

Born in Minnesota in the 1950’s into a large family, he started farming in his 20’s. He planted crops for and milked his dairy herd in Minnesota and later had a sheep flock in Wisconsin. He watched what the earth, rain and sun could do and loved it.

Changes in Roderick’s life brought him to New Mexico via a 2-1/2 month camping trip. He became enamored with the land and its people and decided to call New Mexico home. And here he began to play with the earth, water and fire in a different way. His artistic and creative side began to speak to him. Through coils, pinch pots and slabs with glazes, stone filings and slips using gas and wood firings the clay Roderick works with began to speak through him.

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