Bar Shacterman

Bar's Work

Bar Shacterman is a Northern Californian ceramic sculptor with a diverse, international background. Born in Odessa, Russia, his family immigrated to Israel when he was 6. It was there he received his training at the Academy of Art in Tel Aviv. After traveling through Europe, India and an apprenticeship in Japan, the artist and his family finally settled on the West Coast.

He describes himself as:

"A Hole in a Flute" (Hafiz, Sufi Teacher). The images, experience, fascinations that are my life move through me into something new. What I love most about the process is that it takes me to a different dimension - a place that I haven't visited yet - technically and conceptually.

A work of art is meaningful to me when it expands my understanding of the materials I work with and the images and the ideas that live with me.

My interest in clay was originally inspired by traditional Japanese clay work. In many of the traditional works, I could feel the clay expressing itself; Nature forming around green tea. My work is also inspired by the great contemporary clay artists Peter Voulkos, Paul Soldner and Rudy Autio.

I use a gas kiln and usually fire it at cone 6 to 9. Some of my work, I fire using Noborigama (multiple chamber) and Anagama (single chamber) kilns. The unexpected coming together (jamming) of materials, traditions, and ideas to create something new inspires my work today. It is something I am interested in experiencing, creating and evoking in others."