Angel Brame 2021 Board Nominee

My initial love in art was paint. I love the ability of paint to be manipulated to create color and texture on a flat surface that draws your attention and makes you want to reach out and touch it. I left an incredible art department in high school and headed to a university setting where I developed an ugly case of burnout. I took a break, got married, changed careers and achieved my first Bachelor’s Degree in Human Resources.

After years of “no art,” I took a local pottery class for therapy. I was hooked. I found myself in the local community clay center several days a week and wanted more. I went back to school for my second Bachelor’s Degree in Studio Art. Finishing what I started right after high school was a personal goal that meant more to me than I ever imagined it could.

Clay is my way of thinking outside of the box and outside of my comfort zone while having some fun playing in the mud. I have found that clay offers me things that paint cannot. Clay gives me the challenge of transforming a lump of mud into something useful through the utilization of the spinning wheel and my own dexterity and coordination. It makes me think ten steps ahead so that I may be successful in that transformation. It gives me what I consider to be a bonus. Once I am done with the creation process, I can still revert back to my love of color and texture with slip and glazes. I not only have my useful platter, but a canvas to paint on as well. For me, this is the best of all worlds.