ABOUT
Tara Belkin Harvey is a ceramic artist, born and raised in Los Angeles, CA.
At nine years old, in her first pottery class, Tara learned how to throw on a huge wooden kick wheel with a Japanese potter named Sakuma. He didn’t speak English, and she didn't know Japanese, but they got along just fine.
In film school, Tara traveled to Somalia to shoot an ethnographic documentary about a village where women mine wild clay for men who throw pottery. The men use their big toe to spin a wheel that rests on a small stone on the ground. The pots are paddled repeatedly to create perfectly shaped forms.
While establishing her career in entertainment marketing, Tara continued to work in clay, hand building functional objects and sculptures.
She recently moved to Sonoma County with her husband and two cats, where she continues to paddle clay in her studio.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Most of my work feels as if it’s been unearthed from ancient ruins. A bit tattered, broken and scarred, but it has survived.
I enjoy the process of creation as much as the finished piece. To me, the making of art is an art unto itself. I love to pound clay, I can do it for hours. The repetition is therapeutic and healing, it imbues the clay with strength and soundness.
When shaping my sculptures, I often throw them to the ground. It’s as if the physical act allows me to transfer my energy and emotion into the pieces. When the clay holds that energy, I feel most successful in my work. The addition of the embedded debris is an added artistic bonus.