Wayne Potratz

My art practice is within the tradition and discipline of making images in cast metal. This tradition combines magic, ritual, practice, performance, and art. Research with fire is the play that enables me to master the transformation of materials: the transmutation of space into form and form into space. In molds I make elegant holes and then fill them with liquid metal. By the fire, both the art and the artist are refined, tempered, and transformed. My work derives its inspiration from such diverse interests as canoeing and fishing in the wilderness, Native American culture, Asian culture, and the history of spiritual practice. From my travels in Asia and my life long study of Native American culture comes the knowledge that material and artist are spiritually connected and that the working methodology is in a harmonious relationship to the artistic and conceptual content. This practice has convinced me that making precedes theory and that the process of making significantly informs content and meaning. Thus my research practice includes investigating the various indigenous and historical traditions of metal casting and metalworking. My work in metals has been a fifty-year quest… the more you know, the more there is to know.