THE LANGUAGE OF TEXTURE

by Michael Wisner

Exhibition on display
September 7 - October 30

First Friday Reception October 2nd, 6-8PM @ Main St. Gallery & The Framer, 399 Main St., Carbondale, CO

“I started working in clay after seeing Anasazi pottery in 1988. That fascination quickly ended a career in pharmaceuticals and led to many years of study with potters from native traditions. In 1989 I was fortunate to enter an apprenticeship with Mexican National Treasure Juan Quezada. He was a once in a generation artist and willing to mentor my development. He explained it would take a decade to master his art. The beauty of this old school student master relationship was having one central touchstone to develop ideas around and mature as a young artist. During those years I simultaneously worked at Anderson Ranch where I was exposed to many contemporary artists and the mentorship of Doug Casebeer. This incredible exposure to old and new was a wonderful opportunity to develop ideas.
Today my work is inspired by geometric patterns found in Nature. Its a beautiful moment when several parts of your life come together to show you the next direction. I spent many years doing silent meditation and at one point the patterns id seen in nature began appearing in the silence with eyes closed. The more I learned I began to realize that geometric patterns are a fundamental building block to everything in Nature and this same geometry is within us. These patterns have been a part of many spiritual traditions and working with them brings a lot of peace and fascination as they continue to develop.”
- Michael Wisner