Arts & Entertainment
Larchmont Arts Festival Featured Artist: Michael Dollar
Michael Dollar, featured artist 2015 Larchmont Arts Festival, inspired by nature to create his sculptures, teaches ceramics at Mamaroneck HS
Michael Dollar is the featured artist for the 2015 Larchmont Arts Festival on Saturday, September 26. An artist who draws inspiration from nature to create his sculptures, Dollar teaches Ceramics at Mamaroneck High School.
Q: What are you trying to say with your art?
A: I don’t know if I’m trying to say something with my work; it’s more a relationship between the viewer and the piece that I create. If it’s a functional piece – for example, a mug – I like to think of it as art that you can hold and use. On a more textured piece, I want it to draw you in so you want to touch it, and it invites you to do so. I try to take away the boundary between the piece of art and the viewer of that piece.
Q: What draws you to Ceramics as an art form?
A: The idea of taking a clump of “mud” and putting it on the wheel and then forming it into something beautiful has always intrigued me. Also, the process involved in ceramics draws me to it. I love the process: taking something from the earth –raw clay– and creating art with it, then using fire to transform the clay into ceramic. Every part of the process has its own unique step that can affect the outcome of the final piece, positively or negatively.
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Q: How would you describe your art?
A: I would describe my work as sculptural vases. My art is about the swelling of energy inside and on the surface of each form. The sculptures that I create reveal an undulating energy that cannot normally be seen. The energy is pushing out from the inside and exposing itself through the surface of the clay. My two favorite pieces are both large, bulbous round forms about three feet tall. One is a traditional vase, and the other is a textured piece that is less perfectly round.
Q: From where do you draw your inspiration?
A: I am inspired by nature – especially the Lake George area – and by other artists and their artwork. My students also inspire me. They research artists and art forms when looking for ideas in my class, and I find the conversations that I have with them, and the ideas they come up with to be very inspirational.
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Q: How did you learn to be a ceramicist?
A: I took my first ceramics class at SUNY Plattsburgh and although I graduated from there with a degree in Anthropology, my love of ceramics had been born. I returned to school for an Associate’s Degree in Fine Art, and then pursued a Master’s Degree in Art Education. I took classes in drawing, design, painting, and printmaking, but I missed working three dimensionally. I knew that I wanted to pursue ceramics, however, I did not want to be a potter; I wanted to make great pots. Being a potter seemed to be a rote activity and I wanted – and continue to want – to raise ceramics out of the craft realm and into an art form.
Q: What is the main difference between teaching ceramics and making the art yourself?
A: When I am teaching, it is all about my students, and when I make art, it is about the moment I can focus and carry out my own ideas. I consider myself to be a “teaching artist” and I think I can make a deeper connection with my students because they know that I also make my own work. My students see the pieces I work on, and the stages that the work goes through. I feel that they know I love working in clay.
Now in its 13th year, the Larchmont Arts Festival attracts over 50 artists and hundreds of art lovers to Constitution Park, across from Larchmont Library on Saturday, September 26th. Both emerging and established artists present their work, and vie for two awards: The Kenise Barnes/Sotheby’s Fine Art Award, and the newly established Liz Kaprow Memorial Youth Art Award for artists aged 14-18. The Larchmont Arts Festival has art, music, food, crafts, and a free art project for kids. This year it coincides with the Larchmont Day Street Festival – a perfect family outing. The deadline for artists to register for the festival is September 12th. Registration is free.
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