I began my career as a graphic designer in the 1980’s in Denver, Colorado.  The world of advertising and design  was very fast paced and exciting, and I met it with great enthusiasm.  Denver was a wonderful place to work and  live.  It had both great support for the arts and a very large community of artist, and together they created an  open door for involvement and participation.  There were opportunities in groups and classes that included every  facet of art, and so I started to explore.  I decided that my first class would be in ceramics because I had been  fascinated with the clay vessels that I had seen on display in area shops and galleries.  They were both beautiful  and sophisticated.  Ceramics proved to be a good choice and the experience became life changing.  From the  beginning I was captivated with the clay and spent many hours in the studio.  My instructor, Veryl Rember  Steiner, who was a university professor, said that I had ‘potential and natural abilities’.  I was thrilled and it  spurred on my boundless energy.  Wanting to know more I started to read current books on clay and 20th Century  Ceramicist.  It opened my eyes to the vast possibilities.  I found new artists to admire and realized that there were  many, many creative paths that 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 it was the challenge of hand building  that became not only my passion, but my joy.  In less than a year I had started working in my own studio and had  acquired a kiln.  Anxious to continue my education, I took many more clay classes and workshops with wonderful  instructors.  Among them were Master Ceramicists Nan and Jim McKinnell, Robert Compton, Dave Shaner, Robert  Turner, Rudy Autio, Jim Leedy and Peter Voulkos.  I also realized that my background in graphic design had  played a major role in the acceleration of the creative process.  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 but 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  acrylics, mixed media, and the experience of an ever expanding view ... my journey continues.  The Journey April Bascom ARTIST