Today we’d like to introduce you to Sage Cortez.
Sage, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I’m a Portland, OR based artist — born and raised. I grew up in a very artsy family. As a young child, my aunt would take me to nude model drawing and sculpting courses, which is where I had my first experience with clay. Throughout my adolescence and early teenage years, I focused on 2D mediums such as painting, drawing, and fibers. I ended up going to school for sculpture which is where I had my first true ceramics course. In this course, I was encouraged to make a dinnerware set which I completed with resistance at first, but (obviously haha!) I’ve never looked back. I started Hand + Fire with a desire to focus my practice on solely ceramics, specifically tableware.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
My attempt is to make honest and true pottery focusing on perfecting qualities of the hand within functional tableware. I’m inspired by Japanese pottery and the ideology of wab-sabi. I would refer to my work as minimalistic, organic and clearly human. I hope people see the importance in craftsmanship and the versatility of the human hand within my work.
Artists face many challenges, but what do you feel is the most pressing among them?
Marketing your work and finding a platform that helps you sell things. There a lot of makers out there that deserve acknowledgment but it’s hard to find the appropriate places to get that acknowledgment.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
Instagram is where I do all of my marketing @handandfire. I sell through my website handandfire.com.
Contact Info:
- Website: Handandfire.com
- Instagram: @handandfire
Image Credit:
Sage Cortez
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