We recently connected with Dominique Flores and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Dominique thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

Thinking of my childhood, I can thank my aunt for giving my sister and I a creative outlet growing up. I was raised in an interesting matriarchal family of single women. My mother was busy working full-time and taking night classes, so I didn’t see her a lot. Most of our time was spent with my grandma and my aunt. Even though my aunt didn’t make a whole lot of money, no one in the family did, she still made it possible for us to go to weekend art classes and I’m forever grateful for that.

I wouldn’t say that was my first time realizing I wanted to pursue art, but it definitely planted a seed in me, and I held onto it all the way to a bachelor’s in Fine Arts. I think the first time I truly realized it was my passion was when I got accepted to Chautauqua Visual Arts Summer Artist Residency in Chautauqua, New York. It was the first time I was surrounded by art professionals and creatives at various stages in their careers; from freshly out of college like me, emerging artists, mid-career, professors, art writers, curators, and so many specializing in unique practices that felt overwhelming at first. I felt so many emotions being at the residency and what I learned and took home with me still has long lasting impressions that I am still trying to understand as an artist. It has already been a year since Chautauqua and I’m still so grateful for the experiences I had and the people I met.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I live in a border region between the second south Texas border patrol check point and Mexico called the Rio Grande Valley. I began working in clay about 5 years ago during my undergrad studies. I never intended to pursue ceramics, in fact, I had little to no knowledge about the craft. I was a bit of a drifter (still kind of am) when it came to deciding what I wanted to do. I tried painting, but it felt limited after some time passed. I tried printmaking, but I hated getting cuts. Then, I started to dabble and experimenting with sculpture and using mixed media. I started to form a connection with building things in three-dimensions. I signed up for a beginner’s ceramic class and it completely changed my perspective of the craft. It’s important for me to mention that I got into working with clay during a time in my life where I didn’t think I was going to make it through college, I wasn’t passionate about making art anymore, and I didn’t feel like I was doing the right thing. I was at a point where I wanted to do something else, change my degree. And that was devasting to think about, doing art was all I could think of doing, it was my only plan for the future. When I started taking ceramics, my professor was Raheleh Filsoofi, and to be honest, she really snapped me back to reality and I began to take my life seriously. She taught a studio course unlike any professor I’ve ever had. She was strict but compassionate and understanding of a student’s situation. Clay wasn’t just a sculptural material, it can take many forms. It’s like a human being, you have to take care of it. Clay remembers, that’s something that always stuck with me. It was the first time I became aware of when and where my material comes from and who dug it up? It was the first time I felt real passion for making art that has meaning, and care about what I’m making.

I fell in love of with the labor, I liked that I needed to make a physical effort to get the results I wanted. I liked that mistakes could happen but still be visually interesting. The best part is that there’s still so much I don’t know about ceramics. Every step taken in making a ceramic piece had intention. From the wedging of the clay, to glazing, to the first bisque firing, to the final firing; every step of the process mattered. It’s all so personal.

Clay’s memory inspired me to make work that documents my human existence. I think back to my classes, looking at Paleolithic ceramic works from early civilizations. I think it’s so beautiful to see these ancient figurines, and vases with intricate coiling like of the Jomon culture, it amazes me that these pieces could last for thousands and survive in its wonderful, original structure. So I take these inspirations and try to think; what about my life will be remembered if they were to discover these left behind ceramic pieces I created during my life? How would these future humans interpret my work? I see it as a fun way to rediscover who I am as a person, who are my family and what is our history? I have a lot of fun recreating favorite toy items and candy packaging and altering them to look ancient and broken using oxides which leaves a rusty touch to some of my pieces. Currently I have not been able to make new work because I’m in the process of moving and figuring out a new place to make work again, but in the mean time I try to do a lot of visual journaling to keep my creative juices flowing.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I think the community where artists reside should be providing opportunities for them I think it should “to engage with their local economy and culture. But, it goes both ways, artists should also get to know their community and seek out resources the community has to offer.

Creating public events where artists can participate in pop-ups and sale their work directly to the local community can be so helpful and it’s a ton of fun. Vending at art fairs and market events helped me get out of my shell because the situation it creates forced me to talk to people, strangers, about what my art and it’s eye opening meeting different people that have their own unique story to tell.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being creative?

I love to share my knowledge of clay to other learners of the craft. I hope to inspire them to explore the material deeply and form a similar connection with the material to my own. I’m nowhere near an expert of ceramic things. A lot of what I learned, outside of schooling is from other artists and friends and I have a passion for passing along the information to the next person that is open to it. To me, it all goes back to having that community, that safety net of people that you can go back to for help or encouragement. Everything up to now is thanks to my mentors, professors, and art friends that touched much of my life. So my way of giving back is being supportive of others in their art-making journey, in whatever way I can. I think it’s important that we look out for each other as we’re still moving past the isolation and hardship felt by myself and many others during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Contact Info:

• Website: fuzzygreenscarf.com
• Email: floresdominique41@gmail.com
• Instagram: fuzzy_green_scarf