Head, Heart, and Hand: Ceramic Artist and Mentor, Richard Notkin

Whether they want to be or not, innovators of significance are educators; their works serve as markers by which those who follow may locate and shape their own explorations. The works themselves and the discourse they evoke are not classroom-bound, neither geographically nor temporally. Less typical may be the creators who choose the education setting as an additional forum by which to extend their influence and to receive the influence of others. Why would a magician enthusiastically give away the sleight-of-hand secrets that facilitate effective performance? Perhaps because the merit of the work is ultimately not based on illusion, and the dexterity of the hand is subordinate to that of the head and heart. In his workshops, Richard Notkin often shares what he considers this essential connection between the intellect, the soul, and our ability to alter our world by quoting a line from the silent film, Metropolis (Germany, 1926, Director: Fritz Lang, Screenwriter: Thea von Harbou): “There can be no understanding between the hands and the brain unless the heart acts as mediator.”