Platinum Kosai Ware (10"x20") by Judith Carol Day

Judith Carol Day, as well as being the founder and CEO of Laloba Ranch Art Center, is a self described Potter by day,  poet by night. With a BA(English Lit) from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and Thirty-five years of being an accomplished studio potter, she has also been an instructor of both ceramics and English/creative writing) on both secondary and College levels.
Her art work can be found in public and private collections and also has earned many awards in various juried and national shows. Her writings have been published in various periodicals. Around the workings of Laloba Ranch, she continues her own functional and sculptural clay work. She is currently working on a volume of short stories and a novel. She sees her two artistic callings as a challenge in time management but also mutually inspirational.

“I see good writing as a very visual and sensory stimulating art form and conversely good visual art as stories from our hands…. telling our lives on  the surfaces and just beneath.”

In  my art, I like to explore the world in which I live and in which I dream. I portray personal statements symbolic of that world whether the expression be through the whimsical, political, or familial. I enjoy utilizing personal symbols as well as positive universal symbols that have emerged through many cultures, religions and myth. I often use reptilian and serpentine creatures as well as horses, elephants and wolves. All of these animals have been used as symbols of strength, sensitivity, the wild and the wise.The reptiles are often considered to be universal symbols of healing (as in the medical cadeuseus or the rod of asclepius), rebirth, strength, eternity.  Through ages they have elicited reverence in various cultures and myth, a reverence based on their ability to shed their skin , renew, and transcend and reconstruct themselves. These creatures are honored in many cultures for their ability to change and span different worlds from the depths of water lands to forest land, to lofty  tree tops. And,  As they evolve, they transcend to their higher form.

I believe It is individual personal expression which gives art its enduring place in our lives, hearts, and ultimately, the world. The personal expression in art gives the work its purpose. I feel that ultimately, it is art that tells us most about the history that we constantly live. I see artwork as individual stories, and I love stories whether they are written, oral, formed in clay, or carved in stone. I like to think of artists as the universal story tellers that have for ages relayed bits of history; all contributing to a connectedness, unification, and understanding of our world.