Mike Fuller will join is wife Maggie as well as Susan Sheets and Karla Mock as our four featured artists in our opening reception "The Fabulous Four" at Second Saturday Soiree on October 10.  We wanted to know more about Mike so we asked the following questions.  Enjoy his answers!
Question: Tell us a bit about yourself--where you grew up, things you like to do, interesting tidbits>
I grew up in an Air Force family and primarily lived in San Antonio and Colorado Springs. Other interests include classic motorcycles and automobiles, other mechanical pursuits, and various sciences.

Question:  Did you start art as a kid?  When did you start to work in clay?
I've always been interested in art. I first experienced ceramics in high school and was immediately enamored. I’ve continued to explore ceramics throughout my adult life. I became interested in jewelry and lapidary soon after high school. While serving in the US Army I was trained as an occupational therapy assistant and learned, and ultimately taught, various craft techniques to patients in the hospital. After my military service, I continued to take art courses while in college and medical school. 

Question: How did you come to choose your medium?
I’ve always been drawn to working in clay. I enjoy three-dimensional art and the plasticity of clay.
​ 
Question:  Tell us a bit about your process.
Most of the ceramic sculptures that I do are assembled of hand-built and wheel-thrown components. I primarily use a firing method known as raku to finish the pieces. This method is quite interactive and results in earthy colors that complement the organic nature of my work.

Jewelry Designer Karla Mock will be one of the four featured artists for our October Second Saturday Soiree.  Read her story and learn about her art below.

Question: Tell us a bit about yourself--where you grew up, things that you like to do when you are not doing art, interesting tidbits.
 I was born and raised in Galveston, Texas, got my BFA in Graphic Design from Texas Tech University and my MFA from University of Houston in Jewelry & Metalsmithing. When I'm not in the studio, I love softball and I play flute in the Galveston Community Band.

Question:  Did you start art as a kid or do other creative things like music or dance?
​I can't remember a time without some form of art. My mother was a member of the Galveston Art League and my sister and I would watch her paint and show her work at their outdoor shows.

Question:  When did you start to make jewlery?
At Texas Tech University, the graphic design program required hours in 3D classes. Jewelry and Ceramics were my choices and that was it. I really fell in love with both mediums and am still working in both.
Question: How did you come to choose your medium?
​Jewelry pretty much chose me. Once I'd graduated from Tech, I moved back to Galveston and began casual jewelry classes at Galveston Community College where the instructor was so encouraging. She's the one that recommended me to the University of Houston graduate program and the rest is history.

Question:  Who was your most influential mentor?  Why? How?
My most influential metalsmithing mentor was my professor at University of Houston. His approach was to teach a wide variety of techniques and allow you to be creative with how you used them. He never really guided you in a particular direction but always helped you along your journey with a "but what if you tried this" question. I learned from him that if you can't find the right tool for what you need, just make it.
Question:  Who is your favorite artist? 
​I don't have one favorite artist but absolutely love the group of Bauhaus artists. Their principles that there is no border between artist and craftsman and that what they created was intentionally of simple design, made to be accessible by all people, really made an impression.

Question: Where do you get your inspriration for your work?
The stones I use are my inspiration. Mixing and matching stones until I get a beautiful combination is how I create my pieces. The more unique the material, the more exciting and inspiring.
Question:  Tell us a bit about your process?
All of my work starts from scratch: sheet silver, bezel and round wire, and the stones. Stones are chosen and bezels are hand-soldered by me one at a time in a sort of assembly line process. I have multiple pieces, in various stages lined up on my bench at any given time. It's hard to say how long one pair of earrings would take me to make but at the end of the week, I may have a variety of earrings, rings, necklaces ready to buff.

Susan Sheets of Spring, Texas, is one of the four featured artists for October.  We recently had a chance to interview her about her history and her art.  Please enjoy!
Question: Tell us a bit about yourself--where you grew up, things you like to do besides art, interesting tidbits.
I grew up in San Antonio, and I am still very fond of the town. I love the hilly terrain, mesquite trees and lime-stone cliffs. Like all little girls, I wanted to “hang at the stables” and ride horses all day. No one ever bought me a horse; but my mom worked for a large-animal veterinarian, and he let me ride his horses one summer. It was hot and dusty, and I remember my friend and I riding across Austin Highway on our way to a picnic. Austin Highway wasn’t any more than a “two lane road” in those days. We found a vending machine and bought icy Cokes for a quarter, drinking them on horse-back on our way back.
Question: Did you start art as a kid or do other creative things like music or dance?
My Dad encouraged me to draw and supplied me with reams of paper. He once bought me a pair of electric scissors. I can do anything with scissors now! I learned to draw Teddy bears when I took lessons at McNay Art Institute in San Antonio as a child. When I was a teenager, I got a job as a waitress and with my wages I bought my first set of oil paints. They were tiny little tubes and so expensive, I hated to use the paint.

Question: When did you start to paint?   
I learned to oil paint at the University of Houston. We were taught to begin with glazes and
       apply opaque paint on top in layers. I really began to paint with oils when I had to teach it
       to High school students. My students were very successful with the technique and took
       honors at the Scholastics Competition. I took one student to an award ceremony in
       Washington D.C. and then to New York.
       One summer I applied for a residency at the Arrowmont School of  
       School of Art in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. I was admitted and really got a lot out of the
       experience. I decided I wanted to apply for more Residencies. I applied the following
       summer to a Residency in Wyoming which I was awarded a three-week Residency. I 
       believe that was the experience which taught me to believe in myself as an artist.

Question:  How did you come to choose your medium?
I think it had something to do with Rembrandt. I was very “taken” with his painting “Man in a Golden Helmet, which was latter disclaimed as not even a real Rembrandt! I always thought I wanted to paint in oil. I bought acrylic paints and hated them. They dried brighter than they looked wet.
 

Who was your most influential mentor?  Why?  How?
 I do not remember ever having a mentor. I was very much self-taught. I took art classes first
      at Baylor University, when I was being defiant. I was a nursing major and did not like the
      program, so I signed up for art without a counselor’s approval, or my parents.
      Then I got married, moved to Alaska and took art classes at the University of Alaska. My
      husband was in the Army and was sent to Korea, so I returned to Texas and went to the
      University of Houston where I got a degree in Interior Design. I was advised that would be a
      better career than Art. Next I attended Sam Houston University, took art classes and got a
      Certification in Education. Next I got my Masters in Art Education at Sam Houston.
      Still, no one stands out in my education as a mentor. If anything, instructors were really
      harmful. At one point, I decided after a bad critique, “I would never paint again!” Then I
      decided I could paint, but it would never leave the garage. Then I got angry, and got an
     “I’ll show you” attitude. I began to study artists from every period. I remember seeing a
   show at U. of H. of Chuck Close. It inspired me and I began to paint really big canvases. I still   
   have that huge painting of my dog – it’s a good painting – real gutsy! But too big to hang in
   the house! I mean nobody wants to look at a dog that big!
 

Question:  Who is your favorite artist?
I like a lot of artists but I was influenced early by Whayne Thiebaud. I was amazed by a white rabbit he did in pastel on white paper. He hardly made any marks at all and it still has terrific volume! I appreciate his subject matter. I once made my students paint ice cream cones
In pastel. What a mess! Next I bought all kinds of bread, cheeses, meat, lettuce, tomatoes, olives and condiments and let every student build a sandwich. We photographed the sandwiches under intense light and then they ate their sandwiches. The next day they painted those sandwiches. It was the best project ever! Several of those students got wonderful scholarships at Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design for their portfolios.
One series of Thiebaud’s work was done in paint as thick as toothpaste. His color palette is impressive too.
For color palette, I love Monet.
For composition and patterning, I love Edouard Vuillard.
For composition and intimacy in room scenes, all those mirrors and reflections, I love Pierre Bonnard.
I really appreciate Toulouse-Lautrec’s linear qualities, his fluid marks, his brevity in creating personalities.
Probably Caravaggio is the classic artist who moves me the most. His dark shadows and powerful compositions are really worth studying. His work is visceral – you experience what his subjects are feeling.

Question:  Where do you get your inspiration for your work?
I began as an equine artist. I begged ranchers to allow me to photograph their horses and I painted horses. Dressage horses are my favorite. I went on a photo -shoot in Wyoming and photo-graphed cowboys and a herd of horses for three days. I’ve hired re-enactment cowboys and taken hundreds of photos of them in action. I’ve taken classes just so that I can photograph the horses they model. I’ve been to horse auctions for photo opportunities. I’ve been to Boy Scout camps in New Mexico to photograph horses. I’ve moved on to paint long-horns and photographed the cattle on a friend’s ranch. I have done commissions on a couple of cattle ranches. Now I am studying dogs, my own and others. Cats too. Finally, I want to do figurative work. My family are my subjects. This is my next ambition. However, I have a complete series of works of my students. That deals with their identities, and how their clothes and fashions define them.
 

Question:  Tell us a bit about your process.
First I decide what I would like to focus on. I started with horses close up. Then I wanted horses in a herd in motion. Next I was interested in Mares and their off-spring. I would find someone with horses I am interested in photographing. I will spend hours studying the horses and taking hundreds of photos. I study those photos to determine which ones “move me.” I figure out what it is that is unique. I narrow the collection down and think about how I would approach my favorite photos if I painted them. I sleep on it and the next day one or more will “stick with me.” I figure out how big I feel it needs to be, order the stretchers, decide on color palette, stretch the canvas, draw up the composition, glaze the dark values first rapidly with fluid strokes and I work on the texture, wait for it to dry, apply opaque colors, I want to work the whole canvas, but I always start in my favorite area first. I am always tempted to finish the main figure too soon, but that is how I get excited about the work. When I think it’s done, I move it to another easel where I study it. I always see things I want to improve on, and do more work until it is truly done. Then I sign it.