"Happiness Made Solid". This is what you get when a family therapist turns to pottery.
As a child, Dean McRaine always enjoyed building things with his hands. When he got older, he found pottery as a creative and relaxing way to take his mind off the often times stressful and intense world of family therapy.
He taught himself through magazines, books and lots of trial and error. He considers himself to be a great problem solver. And you really have to be with clay. The intricacies of types of clay, molding it into the shapes you want, how long you fire them up in a kiln.
And Dean had to one up himself and experiment with colored clay. This is what made me want to connect with him. I still can't grasp how he can create all these designs and patterns onto a sheet of clay. You have to check out the video.
He's set up in Kauai with his shop, Lightwave Pottery. The name is not an accident. He wants his work to bring light to people. He hopes that someone can feel the emotional connection when they hold a mug or a plate he's sculpted.
Dean prompts artists to ask themselves: what is your mission as an artist? What is the feeling you get out of your art? Do you have the desire?
Well, Dean certainly has stuck to his mission for 30 plus years and still going strong at age 68. As one client complimented his work, "It's colored therapy."
Let the session begin!