I have seen figurative works and animated animalswhat other styles or subjects do you enjoy creating and why?
It is just all over the place— large ceramic murals building on my sculpting to perhaps picking up oils and a brush; if you can dream it you can explore it. The only trouble is I don’ t think I will live long enough to follow all my creative daydreams. I always am excited by new creative disciplines but to master them, if only a few, will require more time than I will ever have. That is why ceramic arts are so appealing; there is a vast range of disciplines to enjoy simply in playing with clay.
SCULPTURE ARTIST LESLIE AHRENS
Describe an inspirational or memorable experience of a client purchasing your work.
My favorite experience was when I was doing a show on healing oneself after a great loss, and how the rebirth of spring helped that process. My mother had passed away about a year before and I hadn’ t made a work that reflected that loss. A gentleman attending the opening night saw in that piece his wife’ s own journey grieving the recent loss of her mother. He bought it for her as a gift. It was as if they knew each other when his wife and the piece first met.
Describe your first meeting with Michele.
Long ago when she had her Artist Tree Gallery across the street from The Davenport Hotel downtown, I sold some of my work there. That was a long time ago and life’ s journey took both of us in different directions; she has come a long way through thick and thin. We both have. Operating a gallery is a difficult endeavor; she has always managed to rise to the occasion and continues to this day.
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