The Carbondale Clay Center has a new Guest Artists Series, and Theo Hirschfield is the first invited artist. He will be here for the month of October, and is looking forward to getting to know the community, encouraging people to come by and say hello.
Hirschfield is based in San Diego, California, where he is a practicing ceramicist and teaches classes at Tao Clay. Born in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, he has been immersed in the creative world from a young age. Moving to California when he was just a kid, his family motivated him to stick with his dream of becoming an artist.
Deaf since early childhood, Hirschfield creates pieces that are “informed by a highly physical, full-sensory process,” according to his bio on his website, theohirschfield.com He eventually received hearing devices to help him hear, which he is grateful for.
Hirschfield attended the University of California Santa Barbara, graduating with a bachelor of arts degree in sculpture.
He has a following of 230,000 on Instagram and 1.5 million followers on TikTok, and he was discovered through social media by the Gallery Sonder in Newport Beach, where he has a current showing through November titled “Euphorbia.” That exhibit is inspired by the succulents of the Golden State.
Hirschfield likes to use a darker, toothier clay, with vibrant glazes of various colors, like something out of a Dr. Seuss book.
“His biomorphic forms now swell to human height or taller,” Carbondale Clay Center wrote in a press release, “prompting a physical renegotiation between viewer and art-object.”
Hirschfield described to The Sun what a day was like in his life as an artist, starting off with a big breakfast to maintain his creative energy along with exercise, whether that’s going for a walk or surfing. He then heads to his studio, where he hits the ground running, working on his more difficult projects first. He will have multiple projects going on at once, and might light some incense and put on a Pink Floyd record or listen to ambient music in the background.
When he struggles with a creative block, he does not only rely on inspiration, but pushes on and forces himself just to make, even if it’s turning to something more simple, like throwing a cup, to get the creative juices flowing.
“You can spend all the time in the world thinking about what you want to make, but the best thing you can do as an artist is constantly make,” he said. “If you are an artist, most likely you are doing it because you have to do it, or you need to express this feeling. If you did not need to, you’d be okay letting that idea go. Just keep making.”
In other news …
On another exciting note, the Clay Center is slated to open a new space at 215 North 12th Street, aptly named The Carbondale Clay Center 12th Street Annex.
“This space allows us flexibility to meet the increasing demand for more programming and outreach, classes, shelf rentals and studio time as we address waitlists and continue to fundraise toward a new building,” Executive Director Angela Bruno wrote in a recent newsletter. “The additional space makes creating with you here at Carbondale Clay Center even easier, and allow[s] us the flexibility to keep Carbondale dirty.”
The goal is to open the annex in October. So stay tuned.
For more information, visit carbondaleclay.org