{"id":16674,"date":"2016-01-22T00:14:42","date_gmt":"2016-01-22T08:14:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=16674"},"modified":"2016-02-24T00:04:06","modified_gmt":"2016-02-24T08:04:06","slug":"each-creation-unique","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2016\/01\/22\/each-creation-unique\/","title":{"rendered":"Each creation unique"},"content":{"rendered":"

The faces that Larry Cohen creates communicate a range of emotions. (photo by Olga Livshin)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Larry Cohen has been working with pottery, on and off, for about 30 years. \u201cA long time ago, I tried to make money from it, but not anymore,\u201d he told the Independent<\/em>. \u201cNow, I just make things I want to make, things I love.\u201d<\/p>\n

Touch and Fire, Cohen\u2019s solo show at the Zack Gallery, highlights the things he likes: elegant but aloof vases, functional bowls made with salted fire, and expressive faces cut into clay \u2013 manifestations of the artist\u2019s pains, hopes and desires. \u201cClay registers every touch,\u201d he said, \u201cexpressing the character of a particular place, time, person or purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a few touches of his fingers, a few slashes of a knife across a thin clay slab, Cohen manages to convey a multitude of emotions. Every face he has made is unique but, together, they represent the artist\u2019s inner core.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes, you have dreams,\u201d Cohen said about his faces. \u201cGood or bad, with faces you recognize or you don\u2019t. Dreams are part of us, part of the human psyche. My faces are mysteries; they\u2019re my imagination. I started making them in 2015 and I call them \u2018manifestations.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Every other piece on display in the gallery \u2013 vases, teakettles and bowls \u2013 the artist calls \u201cpots.\u201d Some of these he creates on his pottery wheel, while others he builds from the slabs of clay like sculptural ceramics.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I start working with a piece, I know approximately what I want to make, but there are so many different steps along the way,\u201d he explained. \u201cI have to pay attention to what is already done during each step as much as to what I wanted in the beginning. Every step holds a surprise, although some surprises are better than others. Sometimes, things fail technically \u2013 like crack in the kiln \u2013 and you can only cry. It\u2019s humbling, when the technical stuff affects the end result as much as your skill or your vision. The more I work with clay, the more I realize that there is still so much I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is learning new things with every pot he makes and, in three decades of working with clay, he has learned quite a lot, but the unknown always beckons.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t like doing the same things, like factory production. The machines can repeat the same patterns and colors endlessly and sell them in department stores. The pottery coming from machines is perfect and the same. I\u2019m not interested in doing that. I want to experiment; I try something different all the time. My every pot is unique.\u201d<\/p>\n

His craving for the new and surprising has guided him as much in his professional life as it has done in his art. In his life, he has been a criminal lawyer and a University of British Columbia law instructor, he did a stint as a commercial fisherman, worked as a building contractor and managed a Japanese restaurant. \u201cLife is interesting when you try different things,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve been lucky to be able to do what I wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whatever he was doing to earn his living, art always occupied a part of his soul. He has never stopped creating in a variety of forms, from simple teacups to complex sculptures, and clay has been his passion for years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nice to work with clay,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s meditative and it engages me completely. It\u2019s good for your health but it\u2019s hard physical work. First, you have to prepare clay, to \u2018wedge\u2019 it, like kneading dough. Then you make a pot, but afterwards it has to dry completely before you fire it the first time. Only after that, when it cools, you can apply glaze and fire the second time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cohen has two kilns in his studio on Cortes Island. In one, he fires with salt to create texture on his pottery; the other is for smooth surfaces. \u201cIn the summer, I spend months on Cortes Island, working in my studio every day. In other seasons, I do it occasionally, too, every few weeks. When I\u2019m there, I work in the studio, but I\u2019m not as young as I was before. It\u2019s getting harder to work long days.\u201d<\/p>\n

His artistic creations run from utilitarian to high art. \u201cA difference between art and craft is hard to pinpoint,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a continuum. On one end is pure craft, the functionality. A teapot has to hold water to make tea. On the other end is pure art, like my faces. They don\u2019t have to do anything. But, mostly, you\u2019re in the middle. Every pot \u2013 a vase, a bowl \u2013 has to be both functional and esthetic. Pottery at its best is both useful and beautiful, and skills are necessary to achieve both goals. Most of the time, it\u2019s a mixture. I\u2019m as much an artist as a craftsman.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, he admits, he is not much of a salesperson. \u201cI don\u2019t sell as much as I wish. I want to sell more to have room for new things,\u201d he said with a smile.<\/p>\n

Touch and Fire opened on Jan. 14 and will continue at the Zack until Feb. 7.<\/p>\n

Olga Livshin<\/strong> is a Vancouver freelance writer. She can be reached at olgagodim@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The faces that Larry Cohen creates communicate a range of emotions. (photo by Olga Livshin) Larry Cohen has been working with pottery, on and off, for about 30 years. \u201cA long time ago, I tried to make money from it, but not anymore,\u201d he told the Independent. \u201cNow, I just make things I want to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16658,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[989],"tags":[5195,5194,40],"class_list":["post-16674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-visual-arts","tag-clay","tag-pottery","tag-zack-gallery"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}