All of the throwing I’d done in the past was going into these forms. Wheel throwing is such a somatic activity like playing a musical instrument there is so much embedded in motor memory, so much that comes from practice rather than calculation. After a few tries the process became straightforward. I threw a large cylinder and collared it into a conical form. I considered the coiling method to build the hats but quickly realized wheel throwing would be much faster. ![]() The opening reception was five weeks away. I wanted to create the appearance that gallery visitors had taken them off and were walking around with their hats piled up on the side. Not only was Saturn the god of abundance, I needed enough hats to correspond to the approximate number of people attending the opening reception. The only way this would work is if I made a lot of them-as many as possible. I imagined making hats out of terracotta and handing them out as gag gifts for gallery visitors. I was also very interested in the pileus cap as an embodiment of freedom and an object that comes in direct contact with the human body. Having learned all of this from Paul, the exhibition curator, and from a friend in classics at U of C, I considered making some ceramic gifts to hand out to people during the exhibition. Gag gifts made of terracotta were exchanged. Various people wore these hats during Saturnalia regardless of their social status some people cross dressed masters served their slaves. A common sight during Saturnalia was the pileus hat, a simple pointy felt cap normally worn by freed slaves. The holiday was celebrated with a large banquet, gift giving, a temporary break from social hierarchies, and lots of wild partying. Saturnalia was an ancient Roman festival that took place around the December solstice as a way of showing reverence to Saturn, the god of abundance and prosperity, agriculture, the seasons, and cycles of renewal. ![]() So why clay? Saturnalia called for clay, specifically terracotta. The last time I had done anything meaningful with ceramics was probably in 2012. ![]() By mid-November I was throwing around ideas and experimenting with clay. Although I was still preoccupied with another project at the time, I wanted to make something new for this show. The theme and title was Saturnalia, the ancient Roman predecessor of Christmas. Sometime in October, Paul Hopkin invited me to include work in a December/January group exhibition at Slow Gallery.
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