Handmade Ceramics by Direct Son
We’re so thrilled to be hosting Muscle Memory, a ceramics show by Direct Son, our very own Lawrence Cuevas, who joined the Flora Grubb SF team earlier this year.
The show opens Thursday 11/9 with a celebration from 4pm-6pm at our SF store, and we will be showing and selling Lawrence’s work throughout the holiday season. These one-of-a-kind gorgeous pieces will make perfect gifts!
Here’s a little interview with Lawrence about his ceramic work, his journey as an artist, and the path that brought him here to us at Flora Grubb Gardens.
So why the name Direct Son?
It's a play on "direct sun," the strongest light exposure in gardening, and a reference to the joy of being outside. It's spelled "son," as my love of plants comes directly from my mom. After we immigrated to the Bay Area from our verdant region in the Philippines, she adapted to our new urban environment by learning to grow plants that recalled the lushness back home.
This desire to create comfort, beauty, joy, and personal/cultural meaning through California climate-appropriate plants is still with me and central to my work at Flora Grubb Gardens.
I also like how my ceramics look in direct sun (especially morning and early evening sun).
How did you come to join the Flora Grubb Gardens team?
I wanted to be an artist, but like many Filipino children, my parents gave me the options of becoming a doctor or engineer, haha. I started school as a civil engineering major, but changed to landscape architecture as soon as I learned about the field. I developed an interest in how public open spaces contribute to the health of our communities. After graduating I worked on a wide variety of projects across California and abroad, with an emphasis on civic spaces.
Ultimately however, the highly computerized and regulated nature of my work reignited my longing to explore other creative worlds. I signed up for a beginner wheel class at the newly opened SF Clayers' Club, the only public access ceramics studio in my home of Bayview Hunters Point. The class changed my life. The direct responsiveness and endless possibilities of clay was a cathartic contrast to the type of design I had been practicing.
Ceramics inspired me to shift my creative focus from the public realm to our personal realms. Maybe it's a better fit for an introvert who prefers small groups and serene/surreal settings. In the spring of this year I resigned from my landscape architecture job, joined Flora Grubb Gardens, and began my new life, re-centered on gardens and ceramics.
Tell us a little bit about your upcoming ceramics show at Flora Grubb Gardens
This first show and collection are titled Muscle Memory; each piece intends to share the physically intimate experience of working with clay. I remember when our instructor first told us that clay has a form of muscle memory-- that its very particles "remember" our touch. This made me care for the clay somehow. Working with it brought back muscle memories of making tangible things with my hands, and caused me to ponder the scale of time and endurance of physical creations. This has all been stuck in my head and I've been entranced ever since—exploring the tension between raw and refined, strength and gentleness, durability and fragility, timelessness and the present.
The pieces are all unglazed; the clarity and earnest quality of raw clay felt right for my first show. I want them to feel like a beginning, the first steps. I blended multiple clay bodies to achieve different tones and textures across the pieces. I enjoyed exploring the unique feel of each clay combination and aimed to express my touch through softly "hand drawn" surfaces, reassuring lines, and satisfying shifts in silhouette. I love how these qualities respond to the changing light of the sun throughout the day, and I'm also excited for the pieces to patina over time with use as planters.
All the pieces felt good to make, and I hope that is evident.
I'll also be showing a selection of earlier works displaying different techniques (see below). Each serves as a lesson learned, and maybe they'll also serve as glimpses to future pieces.
What are the details of the show?
It'll be Thursday, November 9th, from 4pm to 6pm at Flora Grubb Gardens SF. I'll be around to chat about the work and will say some words at some point in the evening. We'll be pouring wine, beer, and non-alcoholic refreshments, and and our friends from Bloomstock will be serving up some fun hot drinks to bring holiday coziness to the garden. I'm excited to see people there!
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