Torchy Remembered

Life of the Party

PAULA ‘TORCHY’SALTER, DOYENOFTHELOCALARTS, SOCIALSCENE, REMEMBERED

Comment WHEN I FIRSTMET Paula all I could by Carlo Busceme III think of was, “I’ve never seen anyone like this girl before!” Iwas born and raised in Beaumont in an Italian Catholic home with relatives and friends of pretty much the same ilk as me. Then I met Paula. She looked different, but not just looked different, she was different. She was apowerhouse of energy; her hair was a wild red tone and those baby blues shown through her big spectacles like the sky through a picture window. She had a life force that made me hover around her like so many people; her brother Donovan used to say, “like moths to the flame,” but the end result was not the end of any life but the beginning of a new view of life.

Paula’s attitude insisted that God and she were in charge and that any other plan was probably just foolishness.

She used to tell me that when we met she fell in love with me. Now that was not really unusual for her. She loved every creature under God’s sun. Stray dogs, homeless folks, strangers who looked down on their luck, she loved everyone. Even the people she didn’t really get along with she loved.

That was almost thirty years ago.

Igot to know Paula best after the 2005 Hurricane Rita. She was on a fairly mundane visit to her friend and GP Mark Wilson to get treatment for a pretty nasty cut she acquired while trying to fix her downed wooden fence so her dogs wouldn’t run loose. He noticed a knot behind her ear and from that it was determined she had Lymphoma. Just like one would expect, Paula didn’t have time for cancer treatment right then; she other things to do. When she finally decided that she had to do something about the cancer she submitted to treatment.

It was then that I became involved with the woman who would take the person I was, add her special blessings and philosophies, and like a flower with sunshine and rain in just the right amounts she led me into her world and changed mine forever.

Paula could do stuff like that. She seldom touched any thing or person that didn’t change just a bit. I really had intended to get in line to assist the girl who, over the years, had always been so nice to me. Maybe bring her some meals, feed the dogs while she was in treatment, I really didn’t now what. I just knew that I was moved to do something for her.

When I showed up at her door she was, I think, a little surprised. Keep in mind I’m talking about “the Torch.” Torchy, the most independent female I had ever met. She was glad to see me and, of course, I got one of those monster hugs that was a delightful gift she gave to her friends.

We started to talk and reminisce about times past and one particular date we had enjoyed twenty five years earlier. A date that I had never forgotten and surprisingly neither had she. New Years Eve, 1985; I pick her up in acab, knowing full well we would imbibe the fruit of the vine to the max. So off we went to five or six different parties and gatherings, visiting, talking and laughing from one cab ride to the next party, then cab ride and party and cab ride — and so it went into the wee hours Paula “Torchy” Salter and Carlo Busceme III of the morning. She was magnificent. The conversation never waned and the laughter never subsided. I tell you all of this to say that though the parties were “fabulous,” the cab rides were magic. The world would dissolve into an array of colors and blurred images, except for those blue eyes and that wonderfully delightful smile. She remembered it just like I did.

As the treatments continued, my friend and I had deeper and deeper conversations. Although we never gave thought to death or dying we would speak of God and the oneness of the universe, about her father and mother, about high school and her retail career. What we were doing was finding each other and realizing that we had a soul connection.

She called me her soul mate. At first I was leery of such connections, but it wasn’t too long until I understood what she meant. I never had to guess at what she was saying. The meaning was always clear. She never seemed to misunderstand me. We could have debates about almost any subject and then laugh at the energy that was spent and the delight we had in our mind expansion.

Ihad never had this type of relationship before; a person who loved me and understood me. Being with Paula was like having someone hold a mirror up to your face and point out the loveliness of your being. She taught me how to love who I am. That was the beautiful thing about this Torchy girl; she could teach you how to love…even yourself.

She made it through the treatments with the help of many friends, but mostly because she relied on God and in that she found strength.

The social life that she had developed over the years has expanded a great deal since 1985 and she was determined to continue it even through the cancer treatments. We must have gone to a dozen affairs through the whole thing. Bald headed (both of us) — she because of cancer treatments and me because of a bad toupee experience, we made the events that were so

Below: Pierre Joseph Redouté (1759-1840), artist Amable Paul Coutan (1792-1837), engraver

ROSES

1817, stipple engraving on paper InLes Roses, Volume 1 133/4 x 10 1/4 inches Stark Museum of Art, Orange, Texas, 11.63.1.A Photograph by Will France Left: Victor Higgins (1884–1949)

WHITE FLOWERS

1935-1945, oilon canvas 27×30 1/8 inches Stark Museum of Art, Orange, Texas, 31.17.6 Photograph by Will France Fascinating Flora

STARKARTEXHIBITBRINGS ‘BLOOMS’ TOTHEFORE

Review by YOUDON’TNEEDTO possess a Andy Coughlan green thumb to surround yourself with a dazzling array of beautiful flowers. Take a trip to the Stark Museum of Art in Orange to see the exhibition “Blooms: Floral Art in the Stark Collections” on display through June 12, and you will find yourself surrounded by a technicolor array of roses, tulips, peonies and other flora.

One of the most striking images in the show is Victor Higgins’ “White Flowers” (193545), whose rich complexity is at odds with the simplicity of its title. The viewer is drawn to the black and gold vase which dominates the eye. The black floral pattern has a spontaneity that reminds one of Japanese calligraphy. The flowers sit on a golden yellow patterned cloth. The table on which it sits is distorted so the vase appears balanced precariously rather than to be sitting on a stable surface.

The flowers are impressionistic in style. The textured rendering of the vase and fabric are at odds with the rough-hewn background with its slight hint of cubism. Higgins seems to be a reticent abstractionist. He incorporates elements that are delicately painted and then contrasts them with loose backgrounds.

In “Pink Peonies” (1929-30), Higgins gives aslightly distorted perspective reminiscent of the French artist Pierre Bonnard. The vase and flowers are an obvious nod to impressionism, once again finely balanced on a tilted tabletop. The background has a blue panel with gold floral patterning against which the peonies jump off the canvas. Higgins frames the piece with geometric snippets of curtain and panel — a frame-within-a-frame — the hard edges of which contrast with the delicately fluffy pastel flora.

Asis often the case, the Stark Museum has dug into its formidable collection of books that harken back to the days when scientific observation and art were compatible subjects. One such treasure is “The Quadrangular Passion

8• ISSUE May2010 Volume 16, No. 8 DIGGING THE NEW Ceramist Forster to exhibit ‘archeological artifacts’ at TASI in May

Story and JEFF FORSTERISAN archaeolophotos by Andy gist — of sorts. But instead of digging up artifacts from the past, Forster creates new

Coughlan works that are designed to be ancient artifacts of the future. Confused? Don’t be. Just take a quick trip to The Art Studio in May and all will be revealed.

Ceramist Forster will present “Entropic Devices,” a collection of recent work, beginning with a free reception, 7-10 p.m., May 1. The show is Forster’s prize for winning TASIMJAE 2009, The Studio’s membership show.

Forster uses recycled materials as a foundation for much of his work. It reflects his interest in the impact we make on the planet and how future generations, through the artifacts, will judge our effect on the environment.

“These objects, I see them existing in between an archaic object — clay and stone and wood — and more industrial things” he said. “One of the things that really interested me about ceramics is that so much of what we know about early people is from ceramic objects. If you think about the kind of things our culture would leave behind, that’s what I’m striving for.”

Most of his pieces are slab built.

“A lot of times what I will do is layer different colors of clay or clay and a slip, to get that idea of strata like you’d see in the earth,” he said. “One of my main draws to clay as a material is that it is such a natural, elemental material.”

Forster uses a blow torch to harden the outside of the slabs of clay before pulling them apart to reveal stress fractures and broken surfaces. The sense of age and of permanence through time informs much of his work. The blowtorch creates the aged texture. He then presses from behind and the surface of the clay cracks apart, but the underneath part is still a solid foundation.

Forster uses Styrofoam molds and other found or discarded objects to create the shapes for his pieces. He also collects glazes that have been discarded from other people’s studios. He holds up a bucket full of chunks of powdered glaze.

“A lot of times people just throw it in the trash if they are not going to use it and it is extremely harmful to the environment,” he said. “But once you fire it, it’s fine. So I try to utilize as much as I can.”

His pieces are often reminiscent of petrified wood.

“I’ve actually had people come to me and say, ‘Are you working with wood? Or Concrete?’” he said.

His pieces are constructed like hollow tubes. Forster will make a variety of shapes and piece

them together.

“Once in great while I will create a mold out of lumber if I am looking for a specific shape,” he said.

Hetries to work with the molds that he finds, although he will sometimes alter the shapes slightly. One mold that sits in his studio at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft was scavenged from packing from a circular fan. He has also collected packing from computers, printers, ceiling fans, among other things.

“I might use the same mold for four or five different projects,” he said.

He will sometimes see a piece and immediately think of a use for it. Other times, he will let it sit until anidea presents itself, sometimes for six months or a year.

“I’m at the point where I have tons and tons of these Styrofoam molds,” he said, holding a lampshaped piece in his hand. “People bring me them all the time, which is great.”

Forster re-uses the molds for different pieces. In the corner of his studio, a large circular piece of styrofoam leans against the wall, packaging for a circular fan. The inside is stained with color, residue of a previous construction.

“What’s really interesting is that I can put a new piece in there and that will pick up part of the residue from the old piece,” he said.

Forster works on several pieces at once, but estimates a medium size piece may take 10 hours of work.

“To build the piece is not the most time-consuming part of it,” he said. “I spend an equal amount of time glazing the piece. And a lot of my pieces get fired from three to five, six or seven times. What I’ll do a lot of times is put a little glaze on it, fire it, sand blast it, then glaze it again, fire it, sand blast it — just build up additive and subtract, until I get the depth of the surface I am looking for.”

The ceramic process also involves a lot of waiting around time.

“I don’t even factor that in,” Forster said, laughing. “That’s why I’ve got more than one going at a time.”

He said that his love of art began as a child, but it was a long time before he discovered ceramics.

“I drew a lot as a kid, trying to copy things from comic books and that sort of thing, until I was old enough to start drawing from my imagination,” he said. “I think in the seventh grade I knew that I wanted to pursue art. I didn’t know, obviously, at that time what level. I did mostly drawing and painting in high school before getting interested in photography.

“It was in my undergraduate studies that I became interested in glazed materials. Teaching was something I always wanted to do as well. I taught high school art for almost three years.”

He still teaches. He just started this semester as chair of ceramics at the Glassell School of Arts in Houston. Prior to that, he was an adjunct in the Lone Star college system. He is also an artist-in-residence at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft. Visitors are encouraged to visit his studio there.

Forster still pursues his photography.

“The fired objects have an implied sense of age and I also do time-based installations, usually outdoors, so photography becomes very important in documenting these,” he said.

Forster said that Houston offers a lot of opportunities for artists and he has made a lot of contacts through his connection with HCCC and from his residency.

“It’s like Houston just opened up and swallowed me,” he said.

The main drawbacks to Houston are the heat and the flat geography — Forster is a keen snowboarder and rock climber. But that is partly compensated by the diversity and the people — “and the food is incredible,” he said.

Forster’s works have a strong environmental aesthetic. Many of the pieces look naturally aged. He resists the urge to manipulate the process too much. He points to the clay in the mold.

“(It’s) mostly a high iron stoneware body,” he said. “I do mostly atmospheric firing processes — wood fire, salt fire, soda fire. Atmospheric being that you are altering the atmosphere in the kiln to achieve certain effects on the piece. A lot of times what happens is that there are subtle variations in the surface —or in some cases not so subtle. There are a lot of variations. The atmosphere actually creates a glaze, essentially.

“That’s the degree of control I have pretty much. I definitely like the spontaneity and not knowing what’s going to happen. I think that my working process with

See FORSTERon page 14