In the 1980’s I entered the fast pace world of advertising and design while living in Denver, Colorado.  For a graphic artist, Denver was a wonderful place to work and live.  It supported the arts and had a very large community of active artists.  There were art leagues, associations and educational facilities everywhere that offered classes on all levels in every facets of art.  Because I was interested in expanding my abilities I decided to enroll in a class and try something new.  I had recently found myself fascinated with many of the the clay objects displayed in area galleries and so concluded that ceramics would be my first area of investigation.  It was a great choice and proved to be life altering.  From the beginning I was captivated with the feel of the clay and found myself spendings many hours in the class studio.  My instructor, university professor Veryl Rember Steiner, said that I possessed ‘potential and natural abilities’.  I was thrilled and it spurred me on.  With an urgency to know more about clay I began doing research and came across a newly published book about 20th Century Ceramicist.  The artists and their diversity of work overwhelmed me and I began to realize my own vast possibilities.  As I started to think about all of the creative paths I could take, I remember thinking to myself... ‘I could live a hundred life times and never be able to do all of the things I want to do in clay’!  Ultimately I developed a love of hand building and it became both my passion and my joy.  In less than a year I was working in my own studio and had acquired a kiln.  Anxious to continue my education, I took many more clay classes and workshops with some wonderful instructors.  Among them were Master Ceramicists Nan and Jim McKinnell, Robert Compton, Dave Shaner, Robert Turner, Rudy Autio, Jim Leedy and Peter Voulkos.  During this period, it was also apparent that my background in graphic design was playing a major role in my development. After spending many more hours in the studio, I could see that my pieces were beginning to take shape.  Soon I found myself involved in juried shows and exhibitions. At show openings I was able to observe individuals and see their reactions and connections to the clay.  It was very revealing and made me realize there were improvements and changes to be made.  I began building objects that were a lot more lifelike and included bits of whimsy.  To my delight, this work evoked even greater curiosity and investigation, and usually brought a smile.  What I had actually employed was a technique called trompe l'oeil, the art of fooling the eye, and it was a turning point in my journey.  Later on, my work took on a more serious tone as I began to tell more complex stories.  I developed vignettes containing multiple clay objects with bits and pieces of mixed media.  Grouping and presenting them together as a tableau, they conveyed a more complete story.  Often, a number of these tableaus were built on a single theme, and they became ‘works in a series’ .  There were a number of series including a fanciful look at The American Cowboy Boot, historical events from the American West, Life during the WWII years, and later a series on my personal reflections from childhood.  These collective ideas combined with my growing skill at trompel'oeil, helped to set my work apart from others in the competitive area of figurative sculpture. Over the years, I worked and exhibited in many spaces as I relocated across the country from Denver to New England and then out West to the mountains of Northern Arizona.  But with my most recent move to the desert area in Southern Arizona, my journey with clay came to an end.  In this extremely dry climate with abnormally high temperatures, the clay dried too quickly and refused to give me the hours of malleability I needed to build and detail the work that had become my hallmark.  Disheartened, but trying to be optimistic, I started to look to other media.  My first inspiration came from the old, fragile, original adobe structures that are located in the heart of Tucson.  Influenced by their appearance, I used the soft tones of pastels to convey their serenity and beauty.  Pastels however, soon gave way to paints, as the arid openness of the desert brought added inspiration and the vision of a more abstract way of life.  Now using oils, acrylics and mixed media, my evolution and the journey continue. ARTIST JOURNEY APRIL BASCOM