Professor Richard Shaw: Retired May 2012

this is a photo of our well-loved and recently retired Professor Richard Shaw.

he is an official Legend.

awarded 'LEGEND' status by the Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts in November 2011, Richard was bestowed this honor among colleagues Val Cushing, Paul J. Smith, and Patti Warashina.
 
the Archie Bray Foundation has this to say about him:


"In the world of contemporary ceramics, Richard Shaw is the master of trompe l’oeil sculpture. Throughout his career he has developed an astonishing array of techniques to create his work, including casting porcelain forms and creating surfaces using overglaze transfer decals.

Richard Shaw was educated at the San Francisco Art Institute where he received his BFA in 1965. He completed his MFA at the University of California at Davis in 1968. He began teaching at the San Francisco Art Institute in 1966 where he taught for twenty years. He is presently a professor of art at the University of California at Berkeley where he teaches ceramics and drawing.

One of two National Endowment Grants allowed him to explore a photo silkscreen method of reproducing decals and allowed him to work with a professional silkscreen artist, perfecting ceramic transfers.

Shaw has been a resident artist at Shigaraki Cultural Ceramic Park in Japan and the Manufacture National de Sevres in Paris, he was elected as a fellow of the American Crafts Council in 1998, and his work is collected in both private and public collections nationally and internationally. Public collections include the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City; the San Francisco Museum of Art; the Taipei Museum of Modern Art, Taiwan; the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan; and the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands."

 

and so, we miss Richard. 

 

frequenting the hallways and Cafe Strada on certain weekdays.  

 

walking in those boots, walking in the way that only he can, his kind of cowboy laid-back-ness, and always clean and tidy.  never disheveled.

he might disagree with that.  but if he did, it would be in an elegant kind of round about sort of way, much like the way in which the farmer hays over the course of a long hot summer day on a farm in upstate New York, driving round, taking the time, not really saying much, yet saying everything.  

 

but still, telling stories.  maybe even the same ones you heard before, but it's always new, even after years of hearing it.  because there's always new information being revealed.  that's the great part.  if you're open to it, you can take the same class nine times, and always get something new from it.

okay.  i took the class nine times.  

and i'm still getting something new.

 

i imagine him on the ferry, everyday with that cold wind coming off the water, blowing across his face as he looks out over the water.  i hear he used to ride his bike all the way from Stinson Beach up past Mt. Tam all the way to that ferry.  that's not a small distance without hills.  

 

maybe it's part of his secret Iron Man triathalon training.

if you were lucky to attend one of Richard's classes over the years, then you know these things.  because he is a storyteller.  he shows slides, he tells stories.  he drinks coffee, he tells stories.  he listens, he makes drawings.  i never felt separated from Richard by his success.  he just answered your questions when you had them, even if it was for the millionth time, "Umm, Richard?  Umm, do you put the underglaze on top of the glaze?  Or under?  Because I'm not sure."  but he was funny about it.   

 

but i never asked that underglaze question.  

you know those times when you are saying something stupid?  no, not like the underglaze thing,  i mean something really stupid.  you know, you're making some sort of big-type proclamation -- and you're kind of young and you think it doesn't matter what you say?  well, i once was walking around the back of the sculpture yard, making one of these ridiculous statements out loud to the about-to-be-unlucky person i was walking with, and damned if The Man didn't come around that corner, brushing right past me.  

 

to say i was mortified would be a half-truth in itself.  mortified?  more like zombified.  that he would ever hear me speak like that, god!  ugh, then i felt embarrassment that i would say something like that at all - ever! - let alone even think it.  

 

though i instantly regretted it, there was no way to do a take-back.  oops!  sorry!  nah, didn't really mean that one!  uh, yeah.  just kidding?  no.  just my own private horrorshow.

 

because i know that one of the secrets to his success, is that you keep that sort of thing, Missy, to yourself.  because nobody wants to hear that kind of talk.

he is the kind of man you want to make feel proud of you, so you work extra hard.  you learn to take the initiative by doing the dirty jobs -- like cleaning out the sink -- because that's what he did over summer break.  by himself.  that stinky stainless sink in the plaster room that stared back at you every day for months.  so you take his lead.  he shows you how to move, then you move.   and you don't do it because you are expecting any kind of special thing about it.  but you know he will notice.   fact:  he'll most likely say thank you.  

i'd be lying if i said the work was enough, even though it is in the end, because it feels good to be recognized for what you do, or how you do -- even a simple pat on the back, or little joke.  this is what Richard is a master of.  no loud or boisterous explanations.  you can always count on him to be courteous and observant.  honest and supportive.  

 

he will actually take the time out to make the mold for the first time student.  i mean, HE will MAKE it.  what a guy.  so, again, take the lead.  help the first timer.   take the time out of your schedule.  show someone something.  help because it's who you are.  

 

it's the intention that counts.  it's all time, anyway, right?  

 

so, why not just let the person at the grocery store in line ahead of you?  how about yielding on the road to a merging car.  use your signals.  smile, say happy holidays.  anybody want some of this coffee?  and don't be afraid to say yes when someone offers you a gift.  say yes.  hungry?  eat. don't be shy.  take it.  hold the door for someone else.  be chivalrous.  because chivalry is not dead.  

 

and richard.  well, he may be the most chivalrous man i know.

 

we love you, Richard.

 

we'll see you soon.

 

happy holidays to you.

 

and to you your wassail, too. 

 

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk_-y74FNR8