ClayHouston Member Portfolios
Presenting: Larry Murz
Artist Statement
It has been said that in ceramics it takes you seven years to learn the skills and another seven years to know what you want to do with them. I have been working in clay for approximately 12 years now and am starting to understand what I want to do with it. Though my training has been mostly in functional work, I consider myself a three dimensional (3D) artist primarily concerned with form. I want to create pieces that can be admired for their form and color but invite the viewer to touch. I am working on objects with multiple pieces that can be rearranged by the viewer to suit their mood at the time.
Background
Maybe because my father was a clay modeler for General Motors in the 1950’s, making full size clay models of new cars, I have always been interested in clay. I attended my first clay class in Pontiac, Michigan in the early 1980’s. However, due to the needs of a young family I had to put my interest in pottery on hold for awhile. Later, my job gave me opportunities both for travel and to pursue ceramics again. Between 1995 and 2005 I had a number of opportunities to study with accomplished potters, from Helen Gordon of New Zealand at the International Art Institute of Dubai, with Bill van Glider and Eric Hendrix in Frederick, Maryland; Foelber Pottery studio in Houston and in the studio of Dahlia, the only studio potter working in Alexandria, Egypt. There I participated in my first show and received honorable mention for a large thrown and assembled vase with an Egyptian theme.
I have been married to my wife, Anita, for 30 years. We have 5 children and 14 grandchildren and we are now settled in Houston. I am continuing my clay education at the Glassell School of Art, affiliated with the Houston Fine Arts Museum and St. Thomas University. I have always worked with high-fired stoneware using the potter’s wheel or by hand building.
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