Randall E. Becker

Mazomanie, Wisconsin, USA

Title: Buffalo Jump #28

Year of Creation: 2006

Glaze: Oribe, Boyden Bronze, Fake Avery Slip in wood fire cone 10 and Hoka Hey Ash Drip Glaze

Clay Body: Stoneware

Dimensions: Height 18 inches, Width 12 inches

Artist's Statement: Tawamiciya (tah-WAH-mee-ch-ee-yah) to belong to one's self, free of other men.

Who is God? Do I make my art or does my art make me? The best art comes from the mind and body, and the best of the best comes from the heart and soul. We don't have to invent new notes to make new music. Artist as symbol maker? God gave all people a cup of clay and from that they drink life. These are the thoughts that begin the formation of my art. My art reflects my life, my roots of growing up on the prairies of South Dakota, the influence of the Lakota Indian traditions and a German Lutheran heritage on my spirit and soul. Life has many stages of struggle and celebration. It is through my art that I discover not only what I made of but also what I can make myself into.

This is about the beauty of form and function as well as the ideas and memories of landscape, of Unci (Grandmother) and Inan (Mother) Maka (Earth).

Sometimes we dream of being more than what we are.

Ho hetch etu aloh. Mitakuye Oyas'in. ( We are all one. We are all related.)