A Conversation With...
Dr. Louis Katz

Q: Where did you grow up and how did you get here, (A&M-CC)?

A: I grew up in a suburb of Detroit. My father was a pharmacist and mother a Math
Teacher. While my family made money during the day, nights often revolved around
music. My Uncle Bernie was a professional pianist and antique collector. If it were not
for him I may have ended up as an architect or engineer. My father built harpsichords,
I sang and played piano and harpsichord, my elder brother plays klezmer clarinet. I
started college at the University of Michigan in Engineering school. They seemed to want a lot of conformity from me and it was one thing I could not deliver. I eventually ended up at the Kansas City Art Institute and went on to graduate school in Montana. I dropped out of school and sold organic produce in California, changed schools several
times, worked as a handyman in Rhode Island. I graduated with my M.F.A in 1984.

I spent 10 years at temporary teaching jobs and working in a retail clay supply
company for a private Arts Foundation in Helena, Montana. During this time I received a Fulbright Grant to Document Traditional Thai Pottery from an artist's point of view,
a high point in my life. In 1994 after teaching at New Mexico State, Memphis State,
and University of Missouri Columbia, I ended up here. It was an interesting year, there were many new hires that year and there was a great deal of camaraderie.

Q: What motivates you and has helped you become who you are today?

A: I am most interested in how things bump into each other. In painting one of the mantra's of instructors is, "edges, edges, edges". I am interested in conceptual edges. While I find border towns are often ugly, they are full of interesting phenomenon brought about by the intersection of two cultures. Edges of any kind are full of ideas.
Edges that have interested me and continue to do so are: Where does theater become part of ceramics. Where is the commonality between painting and ceramics,
How does science, social studies, or computer science resemble art in the university setting. I have very eclectic interests. I am at home reading scientific articles, or ones on pottery. I am interested in many of the arts, but I can't claim to be interested in them all. I like building things, wood, plumbing, electronics. I have just begun writing music. It is a continual challenge to bend these interests and fold them into clay. Sometimes I manage better than others.

Q: What makes you passionate about your field and teaching students?

A: I believe we live in an increasingly chaotic and at the same time sterile world. The arts used to be an integral part of life and are now being relegated to practitioners. I believe art should be more universal or the world should recognize the vastness of art. As you craft anything, a burger, a document, a lawn, as a human you should art it as
well. Pots, as art objects, provide little areas of sanity and stability in our lives. At their best they are little icons for contemplation. Even when they hold caffeine they have the ability to provide a calm. I am not sure why I am passionate about teaching. It may be that I want people to see the richness in the world I see, whether it is pots, geology, or any other field. It is probably because the people I most respect are teachers.

Q: What course(s) are your favorite to teach?

A: Beginning Ceramics

Q: What co-curricular activities are you involved in, and how can students become involved with you in those activities?

A: I lead tours to visit Thai potteries every other year students are welcome on these. In general I am not involved in many formal co-curricular activities. I often seek help from students for my performance art. I am available in my office most days of the week. Anyone is welcome to come see me.

Q: Outside of TAMUCC, what extracurricular activities are you involved in; what do you do for fun?

A: I take my kids to the beach, play the harpsichord, muck with my computer, and build and repair my house in Corpus and my house in Montana. I have found ways to twist most of my hobbies into productive parts of my art. Most everything now melds into ceramics somehow. Some people would look at what I do and call me a workaholic. There is an element of truth to that, but as I have found a way for my play to become part of my work, you might as well call me a playaholic.

Q: Who inspired you the most or had the greatest impact during your collegiate experience which directed you to your field of study?

A: Larry Wolf, my 7- 9th grade choir teacher is never far from my mind. He was a soft-spoken teacher always with his students at heart. When I decided to become a music teacher (obviously I changed my mind) I asked him, "how after thirty years of teaching do you remain interested in your job?" He said, to get to know your students
as individuals. Mr. Wolf asked me when I was 16 to join a group of professional
singers that got together on weekends. It turned my life around. Kurt Weiser, now a Regents Professor at Arizona State University was the other big influence. He has an incredible knack for coaxing clay to do things. Early in my schooling he gave me pieces of advice and made comments that remain critical to what I do.

Q: What is your greatest achievement and whom do you attribute this to?

A: It is hard to find a greatest achievement. My children are more a product of my wife Gail Busch, she has more contact with them, but they are what I am most proud of. For the last few years I have been occasionally performing on my flame pipe organ, It is something I will probably always be known for. My Fulbright grant to Thailand
and the videos I produced on Thai pottery seem to be the most significant part of my work. In many ways my work documenting Thai pottery is the constant over the last 15 years.

Q: What question does the study of Ceramics attempt to answer?

A: The question has two problems with it. The first is that assumes that the answer
is the same for everyone. I believe it isn't. The second is that even for one individual there is probably more that one answer. In pottery the fundamental question today seems to be "Why make functional pots at all?" What is the difference between some high tech porcelain cup that does not chip, is cheap , and cleans well and some rough
stoneware mug made by hand? Why do we buy these things? What is their value?

Clay is a material unlike many others. It can be made to look like many other materials. It is cheap and has almost no inherent value. It can be earthy or sterile, strong or friable. It has a history and set of aesthetics that is different from mainstream paint-centric art. But like most art, clay is also a question about what more can something be than its obvious form.

Q: Wouldn’t be caught dead wearing?

A: English Country Gentelman's garb, a suit and tie.