go figure...

Kicki Masthem

Kate MacDowell

Roxanne Jackson

I thought it's high time I mention these three amazing figure sculptors. I was exposed to all three while learning ceramics at Portland Community College in Portland, OR. Back then I was dedicated to function and the work these ladies were making (though admired) belonged to a different planet. Kicki taught me my first clay and the figure class with a lot of grueling anatomy studies and working from live models. Roxanne showed up and taught classes by the time I was heading out but still made an impression. It was clear that she inspired her students to make conceptual sculptural work and dazzled everyone with what she could make low-fire glazes do. Kate was a fellow student who worked long late hours in the lab with me. Her imaginative and elaborate narratives woke me up to how much one can say through sculpture. Her work from the get go was magical and exciting. Since then Kate's work has only grown and she has gone on to have a very successful career in clay as a figure sculptor. At the time I met these ladies I had no idea that I would attempt to follow in their footsteps. Now I am thankful to have been exposed to such great role models. They have been an inspiration not only in the quality and creativity of the work they create but also in the way they have established themselves in the ceramics art world. Being exposed to the work and lives of Kicki, Roxanne, and Kate planted a seed of the great expanse of possibilities...which still helps to encourage me now.