As the daughter of a contractor, Maggie Minor spent her childhood on construction sites. She’d sit in the empty rooms while her mother worked and make her own 3-D movies, imagining staircases and countertops and bringing the spaces to life in her mind. She thought she’d be an architect when she grew up, but when on to study art history and history, later earning a Master’s in International Studies — and working around the globe, designing economic- and democratic-reform programs in developing countries.
“My travels really got me into three-dimensional art,” Minor reflects. “In the Western world, we tend to focus so much on painting. But in developing countries, the focus is around sculpture, because the art is more public art.”
While traveling, she reconnected with the artwork she most loved during her undergraduate studies: Celtic art, African art, and ancient art. “I found modern art to be really boring,” she shares. “I credit ancient art with inspiring me.
Although she painted as a teenager, art took a backseat while she cultivated her humanitarian career. But after nearly a decade as a nomad, she got the urge to put down roots and create. “I had a need to do something 3D. I was craving it.”
Minor started taking ceramics classes, and after a couple frustrating experiences with the wheel, she fell in love with the hand-building technique to create her sculptures and wall pieces. She connected with its free-form, no-rules results and set out on a mission to “reinvent sculpture.”
“When I’m hand building, I let the clay kind of fall,” she explains. “I let it do what it wants to do. Clay has its own personality; it wants to do really interesting, organic things.”
For her, it’s about flow. She’s invigorated when people say her work looks like it’s alive. And she gets that vivid movement from unexpected tools.
“I have no boundaries when it comes to molds,” she says. “I’ve used boxes from Amazon. I’m like a two-year-old: I’m more excited about the box than what’s in it!” Her favorite mold? A trash can from Target. “I see molds everywhere. I’m constantly looking for that new, interesting shape.”
In the same way each of her pieces develop, her path to becoming a ceramicist unfolded naturally and organically. As she re-explored her relationship with art, the light bulb switched on — literally.
“I remember standing in my friend’s apartment, and I just turned to her and totally out of the blue said, ‘I’m going to have a lamp shop.’”
She took up ceramics with the intention of making lamps. “It’s hard to find a really cool lamp, one that’s a piece of art,” she notes. “But if you get the right lamp, it can be a showpiece.”
Lamps are now one of her key offerings, and she’s in the process of solidifying her three lines: “boutique” — smaller lamps for bedside tables; “signature” — bigger lamps that make a statement, but are still primarily for the home, such as a living room; and “statement” — sizable, dramatic pieces for hotel lobbies, offices, and other large spaces.
“The ‘signature’ line is still in my imagination, but I’m really excited about it,” Minor says, sharing that she plans to bring it to life this winter. “This is where I think my personality is really going to come out.”
Not only does Minor work to reinvent sculpture in terms of shape and movement: she also breaks boundaries with color.
In her River Arts District studio (in Riverview Station), she plays a mad scientist of sorts, creating countless test tiles and cataloging the results in her color journal.
“You get the most interesting colors when you combine glazes, so I do hundreds of test tiles to find the best combinations.”
She admits that some turn out awful, but says that about every one in 15 are jaw-droppers. “My goal is to do the entire rainbow of colors and always be re-inventing.”
There is one color, though, she uses as is: gold — it’s a nod to her deep appreciation of Celtic art. “I’m constantly looking for that perfect gold. I can see my love of gold glaze being lifelong.”
Although she’s always trying new things and thinking outside of the box, Minor doesn’t consider herself an avant-garde sculptor.
“I have such a huge love of history, so I’m not shy about looking to the past for inspiration.”
In fact, she says, the past makes her feel part of an incredibly vast artists’ community. “It’s like my ancestors from a thousand years ago are supporting me in making something really amazing.”
Learn more about Maggie Minor and see her work at www.maggieminordesigns.com.