Thursday, May 15, 2008

Art from Iraland


That's Iraland, not Ireland. As in the artist, Ira Winarsky. I had a delightful conversation with him on the phone yesterday, which led to him mentioning his website. I was entranced enough that I thought I'd share it with you, too.

Ira went to Kansas University in the 60's to study architecture, but took a ceramics class from Sheldon Carey as an elective and fell in love with clay. Sheldon is the man who convinced my dad to apply for a teaching position in the Art & Design Department at KU, ultimately leading us to Lawrence, Kansas in 1975. He feels that architecture is art on a much larger scale and has continued in both sides of the same world. His degree in Architecture is from KU, his Masters degree in sculpture is from Temple University, Tyler School of Art.

Check out his amazing iridescent glaze palette, based on inspiration from his pet peacock, Gilgamesch