The Human Condition: The Stephen and Pamela Hootkin Collection Sept. 2014 | Page 47

We never were going to be ceramicists in that sense, but we did appreciate the creativity and skill that went into the fabrication of a piece and were amazed at how objects that entered a kiln at well over a thousand degrees could survive and emerge as fabulous works of art. artist, you should take a look at this piece, you should take SH: These acquisitions spoke to our new interest in figurative a look at this body of work,” we would be attuned to that. or abstract works versus vessels. Work of this kind really In the mid-1980s we began to subscribe to American Ceramics, a leading magazine in the field. Harry Dennis was the publisher and Michael McTwigan was the editor. spoke to us. I’ll never forget that first visit to his studio. RP: You continued to visit Michael’s studio over the years and became fast friends. One day I happened to see an ad by a woman named Maria Friedrich—we later found out that she was married to Michael McTwigan. She was a private New York art dealer who had originally started in Boston. Her ad listed several ceramic artists— including Michael Lucero and Jan Holcomb—that we hadn’t heard of before. There was a phone number on the ad so I called her on the spur of the moment and explained that we were interested in contemporary American ceramics. This call began a long-term relationship with her. Over the years, she introduced us to the work of many wonderful contemporary artists including Robert Arneson, Ken Price, and Daisy Youngblood. It was she who organized our first visit to Michael Lucero’s studio around 1987–88. I remember we walked in and it was like nothing we had ever seen before. PH: The studio was chock full. Just think of his work— different shapes, different forms, the glazes were over-the-top fabulous. SH: Yes we did. But back then the East Village was a very difficult place. There were a lot of drugs, vacant buildings, and empty lots. I came from my office wearing a suit. I got off the subway and started walking towards Avenue B or C. A policeman stopped me and said, “Where are you going?” I said was going to see my friend. He said, “Let me escort you. You shouldn’t be walking around here wearing a suit.” So the next time we went to visit Michael’s studio we put on our torn blue jeans. I put money in the bottom of my sock, we put on our oldest clothes and we walked through that neighborhood. That’s just a little aside of how far we were willing to go to visit our artist friends. RP: Were there visits to other artists’ studios that you particularly remember? PH: There were a lot of interesting visits. One was as a result of an exhibition that we saw at the New Museum in New York that had been organized by Marcia Tucker. SH: It was the most exciting thing we had seen since She had included work by Kukuli Velarde, an artist we started looking at ceramics. We came home and whose work we were not familiar with. Marcia came to spoke about how fascinating our visit was. I think shortly our apartment a short time later and we commented thereafter we bought several of Michael’s pieces. that we really liked Kukuli’s work. She offered to set up PH: We bought Day Dreamer (1984) and Black Fish (1986). We also bought seven of his crayon drawings. These were the first pieces by Michael Lucero that we acquired. a studio visit for us. “But you have to realize that she is squatting in a bombed out, empty apartment building with other artists and squatters. Just be prepared when 45