By Kaylon Coleman
Within the confines of Cal Poly Humboldt, many a-student choose to express themselves in a multitude of ways. For senior ceramics major, philosophy minor and clay club president Socks Lucas, ceramics is their expressive outlet of choice.
Lucas got into ceramics around the time of the pandemic at age 16.
“I was taking classes at a community college instead of going to a traditional high school. I just wanted to do something at home that used my hands, and that wasn’t staring at a screen,” Lucas said. “So, I signed up for a hand building ceramics class.”
At first, Lucas hated the class — but after another attempt in-person the following semester, they grew to love the medium and have stuck with ceramics ever since.
“I’ve done [ceramics] every semester since I was 16,” Lucas said. “I think I had one semester off, but I snuck into the ceramics studio here-and-there to touch clay.”
Lucas is heading to the California Conference for the Advancement of Ceramic Arts (CCACA) this weekend, April 24 and 25 in Davis, Calif.. Lucas plans on bringing three pieces to showcase as a triptych — a term that refers to a three piece work of art showcasing a specific theme or concept.
“One of them is a cat with two apples on its head. It’s kind of reminiscent of my childhood cat who passed away last semester,” Lucas said. “And then a giant pile of apples with a little mouse in it. And then a pile of mice with an apple core.”
Lucas delved into the significance of the pieces. Naming the cat piece, “keeper,” the apples, “hold them close, pile them high” and the mice, “surrender.”
“My work explores themes of childhood memories, comfort, grief and nostalgia. Personal experience, the emotions of my past, and my ongoing consideration of who I am drive the ideas I materialize into clay,” Lucas said. “These sculptures are a monument to all memories I have held onto: the good, the bad and the rotting.”
Lucas explained their creative process and how they get inspiration for their pieces.
“Probably laying in bed, having an idea pop in my head and not being able to sleep for a few hours,” Lucas said. “And then, scribbling down a few circles on a page, coming in the next day and just having this extreme urge to just make something… the 3D nature of clay for me really allows me to just fully manifest it physically into reality.”
This process isn’t without its caveats though. Lucas explained the tribulations of ceramics and what inspires them to keep with it.
“It’s a tough-ass medium to stay in. There’s constant failings and disappointment,” Lucas said. “I crashed out about my pile of apples last week because they were too dark of a color than I wanted them to be… what keeps me going every day in the studio, though, is my friends in it. It’s a community.”
Lucas has no concrete plans for after graduation and remains a bit weary of having no studio space next semester, but wishes to go to grad school in either Alfred, New York or Boulder, Colorado with long term goals of teaching.
“I want to go to grad school, do some residencies and eventually teach at a four-year, just so I can sustain my art practice,” Lucas said.
Lucas also shared where their drive of teaching originates from.
“I love sharing what I know about ceramics with other people,” Lucas said. “I think that process of sharing information is so beautiful, and I would love to share that with the broader world and also get paid for it. I think that’d be really sweet.”
Lucas’ main passion around ceramics, however, is how it allows them to express emotion.
“I make my work to share the joys of my life with others and provide a space to hold their sorrows,” Lucas said. “Much of what I create is not intended to affect others directly, but to help me understand myself and how I move through life’s peaks and valleys. Through my work, I show you my old bruises that refuse to disappear, alongside the sweet reality I have built.”
Kaylon Coleman is a senior journalism major with a concentration in news and a minor in communications. He is the Life & Arts editor for LJ, Marketing and Communications lead for the Umoja Center and a part-time radio DJ and merch manager for KRFH. If you have a topic you want him to discuss, email him at kc403@humboldt.edu.