Kira, Matias & Gil Santiago
The work of Kira, Matias and Gil Santiago will be featured in the La Mano gallery from April 5–April 30. Please join us on Saturday, April 9, from 6–9pm for the artists' reception.
Kira Santiago has been “playing” with clay for years; first with her potter aunt Almut at the Cold River Pottery and then at LaMano Pottery. She has published an artist journal on Clay. Kira has won numerous City, Regional and National Awards for photography, painting, drawing, sculpture and ceramics. She is currently attending the Beacon High School. Her other interests include learning ASL and becoming a certified interpreter by the time she graduates high school; and the flying trapeze, where her goal is to be their first female catcher at trapeze school NY (TSNY).
Matias Santiago has also been “playing” with clay for a number of years; both at his aunt’s pottery and at LaMano. He has won Regional and National Awards for both photography and ceramics. In September he’ll be starting high school at High School for Math, Science & Engineering at City College. His interests are computer, Warhammer, and reading just about anything he can get his hands on.
Gil Santiago has also “played” on and off with clay for years. Only recently getting back into it while taking classes with his children at LaMano pottery. He has a degree in Industrial Design from Pratt Institute, and his Masters in Architecture from Columbia University; and is currently an instructor at Pratt Institute
All of our feelings about clay are well described by this quote from Kira’s book Clay and Artist Journal:
Clay is a beautiful mud, before the fire’s touch turns it into stone. You can make it dance and spin, telling it what you want from it with your hands. When you do pottery for years, your hands pretty much have their own brains for doing the same technique over and over again. Clay is not patient of the wheel, you can only use it once and then it’s over. It becomes something for the fire or something for the clay bin. On the wheel, the clay is forever moving each time your skin touches it. It’s like you are giving the clay a massage and the clay is massaging your hands as you both share space and time on the Wheel. With hand building the clay is much more patient than with the wheel. It is still on your skin as you touch it. When I have finished a shape on the wheel or a piece by hand, I stop to look at it. Sometimes, when I make a piece, I would be so focused on the hard pars that I might forget an eye, nose, or some other detail that would bring the clay to life. If it looks good, I sometimes feel like a goddess.