young artist

Keith D. Simpson

Age: 25

Born: Spokane

Kind of art: Sculptural ceramics

Education: Independent studies at Spokane Falls Community College, 2001-2004; resident artist at the Archie Bray Foundation for Ceramic Arts in Helena, summer 2003.

Current shows: Simpson’s work is included in two “Spokane Celebrates Ceramics” exhibits: “Spokane Collects Ceramics” at Gonzaga University’s Jundt Art Museum; and “Past Archie Bray Residents” at Red Sky Gallery, Suite B, 115 S. Adams St. An artists’ reception is tonight at the Red Sky Gallery from 5-8 p.m.

Style: “I don’t want to corner myself. I’m evolving slowly into the artist that I want to be. In the past, I have called my work ‘Outsider Surrealism in Clay,’ but that is really just an excuse for not knowing what to call it. I really want to tell a story or a part of a story. I find work that is narrative in a fairly direct manner to be the most interesting. I think that art should be approachable and that good art appeals to everyone, not just the academic viewer.”

Process: “I like to have a firm idea about what a piece means to me before I even attempt to create it. I depict my ideas in an open fashion that allows viewers to bring some of themselves to the interpretation.”

What’s ahead: “Right now I’m making a lot of new work, just hiding out at home and stockpiling work for a show later this year.

“As for my ‘career,’ I’m a janitor. I clean the filth that others leave behind. I work full time, and then some, to be able to support my (art) habit, and that is what I would call it really, a habit. I certainly strive to make a career from my art but, as of yet, it escapes me. I suppose that is my long-term goal.”

E-mail: diggidy_dank@hotmail.com