Alex Tam is a multidisciplinary artist originally from Colorado but calls sunny Los Angeles home now. He works mainly in digital forms such as photography and graphic design and most recently has found great fulfilment working in the physical medium of clay. He spends most of his time on the wheel exploring various closed and open forms from plates to bowls to jars. Vases, however, are what he gravitates most towards as it allows for more experimentation and play with shapes and glazing. During his stay, he focused on exploring his relationship with clay and form even further.
I came to the Fish Factory not really having a solid plan other than simply trusting the process. I let my intuition and the wonderful stillness I found from being in this breathtaking landscape in the winter be my guides. Through spending many late nights on the wheel throwing over and over, I eventually landed on this rounded, tall, almost otherworldly shape I quite liked. As for the glazing, that was inspired less by stillness and more from the constant change and seemingly sometimes random chaos that comes from Icelandic nature.
Ultimately, everything about my time at the Fish Factory inspired me in little ways. Whether it was the energy from the other artists hard at work or fooling around on the guitar while I waited for the kettle to boil, all of it showed up in my pottery in one way or another. Clay really has a way of reflecting your internal state back to you like a mirror and it has memory (quite literally the particles will align how you shape them to and tend to stay that way). The most sentimental part of me would like to imagine that all our ceramic pieces serve not only as a piece of art or functional dinnerware but also as an organic hard drive of sorts, forever holding the memories of its maker within.
Many thanks to my cohort for an amazing month and the Fish Factory for providing an amazing environment and set of tools to run wild with our imagination. The night owl within me will miss being able to throw on the wheel at midnight!
Instagram: @tam_nation
Website: https://www.itsalextam.com/