William Schwob

I studied painting and sculpture at Herron School of Art in Indianapolis, Indiana. After art school, I traveled to Costa Rica where I lived for a brief time and while there traveled north to Guatemala to visit the Mayan ruins of Tikal. Seeing these ruins made a lasting impression on me and over the course of my life I have continued to visit ruins of ancient civilizations which has influenced my current works in clay. I also travel regularly to Japan and it was there that I first saw the beautiful wood fired ceramic pieces fired in anagama kilns and fell in love with their amazing surfaces and patinas.

My sculptural work covers a broad range of approaches from site specific conceptual pieces that are documented with a camera to more traditional approaches using clay and wood firing. In 2008 I began this current series of anagama wood fired clay figurative works. In my exploration of the human form I expose the anatomy and combine invented architectural structure in a way that suggests both the fragility and strength of the human condition. The broad focus of this series is climate change and the real possibility that life on earth will be completely altered and that all human life is at risk unless we drastically change our global behavior. The science tells us that. As I make these pieces I try to imbue them with the sense that the future is not fully written yet (all of my figures are still standing). I hold onto hope that humanity can find a way to mitigate the worse effects of climate change.