Amado Allows His Fantasy to Fly Artist to Teach Ceramics in Franklin

“For me, this is life.”
When Jorge Amado talks about his artwork, his eyes light up. Amado is a creative soul. The ceramicist, who will soon teach his art with some classes at the Franklin Art Center, is also a poet, having published two books of poetry (in Spanish) – Mi Tiempo Es Poesia (1994) and El Termometro del Amor … y otros Poemas (2009-2010) and dabbled in oil painting before he took his creativity in another direction. And he practiced his love of creation while earning his living in another field.
“My background is I am a clinical psychologist,” says Amado, who received his training in Mexico, where he later had a private practice. At the same time, he began digging his own clay, learning techniques on his own, with some success, but also failure.
When he moved to the United States, he took his training to work for a family service agency for low income families, but felt burnt out and ineffective, so for the next 16 years, he supported himself and his family with a carpet cleaning business in California.
All the while, however, Amado, who has traveled to several places in the world and even lived in Guatemala for awhile, says, “I have something in me that tells me that I’m an artist, that I cannot deny.”
When divorce shook his life 10 years ago, he says, he underwent a grieving process. Again, he turned to clay. “I wanted to do ceramics all my life … this was the time for doing it,” explains Amado, who had always wanted to work with his hands, but that dream had never come to fruition. His first piece was a crude cactus, but he found his passion.
“I think all my life, I was frustrated. This was something that really made me feel ok living,” says the artist. “I feel like everything is a circle. I was working, and needed something to close the circle. Now, when I do ceramics, I’m creating and working with my hands.”
Amado developed his technique with by watching videos, reading books and taking classes in Bullingham, Calif. and later at the College of San Mateo, selling some pieces in California and learning from others that his work, that he thought was simple or typical, was in fact, unique. He eventually began teaching the art in California, and was pleased when he saw his students improve.
Now, two things he loves most in life, he says, are working with his hands and teaching.
“Both things are accomplished by doing ceramics,” he says. The ceramicist has recently rented a studio in Pawtucket, RI and will soon be teaching classes at Franklin Art Center. One day, he envisions creating a local potters’ guild, where various potters can rent a space and afford larger or more intricate equipment.
Amado says he is always growing as an artist, and learning. He has pieces that he has carved out of porcelain, including one favorite he did of Presidio Park in San Francisco that took him a month to complete, as well as work in which he’s experimented with crystalline glazes, crackling and down firing.
“That’s the idea,” he says, “ – to learn more – to do something different. Everything that comes to my mind, I put it into practice. When you are doing something that is art, you are evolving all the time. If you have an open mind, you are looking at everything new all the time. You will see how things change. It’s playing, expressing yourself and allowing the fantasy to fly.”
You can learn more about Jorge Amado at www.jorgeamadoceramicsart.com (although the artist explains that his website is under construction.) Look for him on Facebook under Jorge Amado Ceramics.