R A P I D R I V E R A R T S fine art F o o d M u s i c W i n e www.ashevillelyric.org JUNE 4, 2011 Join us for a deliciously fun evening of international flavors served by Asheville’s finest local restaurants. Enjoy a musical trip around the world featuring a diverse operatic repertoire. Don’t miss this one-of-a-kind event, one night only, at The Diana Wortham Theatre. For tickets call 828-257-4530 or visit www.dwtheatre.com Event Sponsors INTERVIEW WITH Steven Forbes-deSoule Steven Forbes-deSoule is known for his colorful, one-of-a-kind raku vessels and sculptures with beautiful and unique glazed surfaces. His ceramics are also part of numerous corporate, private and museum collections throughout the U.S., and in Canada, Europe and Japan. He has been featured in publications such as Ceramics Monthly magazine (May 1985), and books such as Ceramics Spectrum, second edition; Clay and Glazes for the Potter, third edition; and Throwing on the Potter’s Wheel by Don Davis. He will also be featured in the upcoming publication 100 Southern Artists, due out later this year. Forbes-deSoule held an Assistant Professorship in Ceramics at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia for six years. He also taught weekly classes at Callanwolde Fine Arts Center in Atlanta and at Odyssey Center of Ceramic Arts after moving to the Asheville area in 1981. In the last few years, he has been teaching weekend and week-long workshops at such places as Metchosin Summer School for the Arts in Victoria, BC, Canada; Pots and Paints near Los Cabos, Mexico; John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC; Studio of the Woods in Kentucky; East Tennessee State University; Georgia State University; Arrowmont School of Crafts; Miami of Ohio University; and the Spring Island, SC Art Center. He recently had a solo exhibition of his raku at Burroughs-Chapin Art Museum in Myrtle Beach, SC. Raku pottery by Steven Forbes-deSoule <strong>Rapid</strong> <strong>River</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>: Tell us something about your work and about Raku pottery. Steven Forbes-deSoule: My work is both wheel thrown and hand built. I develop the recipes for all of my glazes, which give my work its unique look. RRM: What techniques do you use to achieve your result? SF: Many of my pieces are thrown and INTERVIEWED BY DENNIS RAY Steven Forbes-deSoule will open his studio to visitors during the Weaverville Art Safari. altered when still wet on the wheel. I glaze by layering glazes using wax resist. RRM: What are you major influences? SF: I’m influenced by what I see everyday, especially the ever changing faces of mothernature. RRM: When did you first realize that you were going to be an artist, when did you first start making art, and at what point did you realize that it was going to be something that you would pursue? SF: After college and the Navy, I went to work in the corporate world, which I soon learned to dislike very much. After quitting my brief, second corporate career, I returned to college and just happened to take a ceramics class. 5 years later, I received my Masters of Visual Arts from Georgia State University in Ceramics and the rest is history. RRM: What have you been working on lately? Are you experimenting with anything new? SF: I’m making discs that are influenced by “flying saucers,” which can either be hung on the wall or used on horizontal surfaces as boxes. I’m always experimenting with new glazes. RRM: Looking back, knowing what you know now, is there anything that you would do differently? SF: I would have started much earlier. RRM: Can you teach somebody to be an artist or is it an innate ability? SF: I believe we are all born with the ability to be an artist (or anything else for that matter). Unfortunately, our education system focuses on left brain pursuits—reading, Continued on page 20 4 May 2011 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — Vol. 14, No. 9
www.jewelsthatdance.com MOTHERS DAY MAY 8 2011 DON’T FORGET a plethora of possibilities mix up a sweet one to charm your MOM available in sterling silver and gold Vol. 14, No. 9 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — May 2011 5
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