Thinking visually: an interview with Scott Bennett - clay corner - Interview

Arts & Activities, April, 2002 by Harriet Gamble

Scott Bennett describes himself as a practicing artist--a product of contemporary abstract art and traditional craft. He combines the routine of a craftsman with the eccentricity of an assemblage artist, merging tradition with change, practice with spontaneity. Scott maintains a studio in an old factory warehouse in Columbus, Ohio. Additionally, he has designed nearly 2,000 pieces for Bath and Body Works and also develops hybrid daylilies in his one-acre garden.

In this interview, Scott shares his history and evolution as an artist, his inspirations, and the techniques and procedures used to create his pieces.

H.G. Has art always been part of your life?

S.B. Judging by all my early report cards (which I still have) that all say, "Scott would rather draw than pay attention in class," I guess I began thinking visually at an early age. I remember my older brother Gary and I would fill up the edges of the pages of our phone book with drawings. We both were influenced by our father--a talented "jack of all trades" who exposed us to all of his creative endeavors.

During public school, I loved art and took every class available--even when they were electives. In middle school, I also took wood shop and eventually became obsessed with the wood lathe. My parents even purchased a small wood lathe so I could work on it in the basement at home. I became very proficient, spending all of my free time in school and at home on the lathe.

Then I saw my art teacher throw a vessel out of clay on the potter's wheel. I immediately made the connection between what I had been doing and what he was doing. I envied how the material was so malleable compared to wood and that one could get so close to it. I had to use tools to form; he used his bare hands. That was 22 years ago and since that time I earned an MFA in ceramics and have done over 10 years of postgraduate studio work in clay.

H.G. How has your art evolved and have you evolved as an artist?

S.B. My initial attraction to clay--the plasticity, fluidity and the movement that can be expressed by both clay and glaze--is one of the primary driving forces behind the work I have completed in both this medium and in others. From the melted appearance of pots fired in a wood or salt kiln (not to mention the interior and kiln furniture, as well!), to heating and forming steel over a forge, I am always trying to capture the fluidity or some suggestion of movement at one time in all materials I explore. I combine this path of craftsmanship with a desire to challenge the viewer and myself by the work I create.

H.G. What inspires the work you are doing now?

S.B. In the past, the majority of my pieces were nonobjective, abstract and organic in nature, and they often seemed to display a quirky kind of elegance and awkwardness. More recently, I have started to combine nonobjective forms with recognizable elements or, should I say, recognizable ideas. I have combined pottery forms with less obvious forms--maybe in an attempt to create a tension between what we know or recognize and what we don't. It has been argued that pots are abstract forms that do not exist in nature, but I see them as recognizable and objective subject matter much like the figure. I think sometimes my pieces teeter between a known and unknown entity.

I'm also exploring jewelry as a recognizable subject. Jewelry is also an abstract idea, but we recognize the elements and symbolism of it in our culture. I'm experimenting with the juxtaposition of recognizable and unrecognizable elements of this genre, using form, surface treatment and scale--possibly to raise questions I have concerning our fascination with adornment, rarity and status of objects in society as well as to challenge the viewer with a rich and perplexing piece.

H.G. Tell us how you create your pieces.

S.B. My work usually starts by drawing. I always have a sketchbook handy, and I do many thumbnail sketches of ideas. I have found these drawings very helpful in thinking three dimensionally. A new body of work usually starts with 10 to 20 drawings, which I pare down to five to 10 pieces. For whatever reason, I seem to work on five to 10 pieces at a time.

At the same time, I am sketching out ideas for future work. It's not uncommon to have sketches for a month or two before I make a piece based on it. So in a way, I am working on many pieces at the same time. There are works in progress from drawings I have previously completed, as well as ideas in process in the form of sketches for potential pieces in the future. The beauty of this situation is that, inevitably, each action influences the other, churning the evolution of the work.

H.G. You then take the sketched ideas and translate them into clay?

S.B. Once I decide to make a piece in clay, I've probably worked out the procedure needed during the drawing stage. If I feel a particular piece requires a difficult step to complete, I will make notes of procedural possibilities next to the sketch, My work is often a kind of assemblage, so I start by making the individual parts of the piece. Some of these parts are made on the wheel, as well as handbuilt. I view the wheel as a machine that enables me to form objects that I can use in my work, rather than just a "potter's wheel" to make pots.