Jan Fisher and the Ceramics Studio: A little bit of Heaven

There were three things you had to do to get an A grade for the ten week semester sculpture class with Jan Fisher.  They were: do three sculptures, do not miss more than three classes, and do 20 hours after class work in the ceramics studio.  “Everyone can get an A", Jan would say, "I don’t believe in the bell curve.  Whoever invented the bell curve should be shot!” He would say that every semester, first day of class:  “whoever invented the bell curve should be shot!” I imagined some person, the inventor of the bell curve, drawing a bell on the board and saying I’ve got it! Then the crack of a gun.

This was the academic Jan talking, or as academic as he got. In reality it was just a set of measured things to be ticked off a list so all the paper work looked good.  Nothing to do with real art. One could do all that, those three things and get a good grade.  But I realized early on that to make it as a real artist, doing those things will not prepare you in the least.  What you really had to do was so much more than that. The nice thing though if you did just do those things and worry only about the grade, you could finish the semester, pat yourself on the back and forget about it.  What Jan actually taught in his actions and what he said off the record was so much more.  He wanted us to work so hard, give our souls, make something of our lives and generate a wave that would go around the world and reach up into heaven. The simple requirements for a grade stopped at the end of the semester, what he really wanted from us lasted much longer, carried on much further and haunts me even to this day.

Coming to Hawaii

The Royal Hawaiian Family King Kamehameha 

and co. Jan was excited, he had big plans for 

some park with all the royal family.  But later 

when I started taking classes the sculptures 

were gone and he never spoke of the 

project again.

I first came to Hawaii in 1989 to attend Brigham Young University on the beautiful north shore of Oahu in a small town called Laie. Hawaii is such a wonderful place to go to school, the agreeable climate, beautiful smells, sites and wonderful people everywhere. I truly had a sense of awakening, that something was going to happen and was happening at this moment. I had sense of coming alive. This was before I ever stepped into the Ceramics Studio. When I entered the Ceramics Studio, it was hard to take in the place in all at once because it was filled with so many sculptures.  Amazing pieces. Way better than anything I had ever done.  When entering the Ceramics Studio you walk right into an open area where all the sculpting takes place.  As I walked through the door I first saw a group of figures Jan Fisher was working on, a group of King Kamehameha and his family. They were half-sized figures, grouped together with the man himself, King Kamehameha, at the front. For a budding artist to see such works in the making, it was awesome. Jan had his back to me and was working on the piece.  He craned his neck around as we entered and I was introduced as a new arrival from New Zealand that wants to be a sculpture student.  Jan was very nice and gave me a brief tour of the studio.  He showed me some pieces he had been working on and told me what various projects students did there. I think I must have peaked his interest as there was a long line over the years of top art students from New Zealand.

My First sculpture in Hawaii: 
Christ in America

For me Jan didn’t generate a desire to create, I already had that, but he did fuel it to much greater heights.  I wanted to create something that would impress, that would be so beautiful--something to add to all the great works I saw in there.  My first project shows that, a small relief I did of Christ in America.  Jan helped me on this, especially the Christ figure.  When I look at it I think of the help he gave me on my first piece. I left the strokes he put on it. It was a good start and was helpful in showing Jan I meant to put forth a good effort and worth the time to teach.

The Masters

Jan wanted us to do great things and so he keyed off and often talked of the great masters.  He showed pictures like Michelangelo’s David, or Rodin’s Thinker.  He told stories and pretended to act out scenes from their lives.

"Michelangelo would come out of his studio,  he’d be all white, covered in marble dust.”  Jan would be standing a little hunched over.  "He’s walking down a narrow street of Florence, totally exhausted." Then Jan would shuffle across the floor, head hanging down. “Some people would be coming up in the opposite direction and there would not be enough room to easily pass by. As they got near Michelangelo he’d say out GET OUTA MY WAY!”  Jan would thunder his voice and swing his arms up. 

“Rodin would be in his studio, trying to decide on a good pose.  His models would walk around his studio completely nude. Rodin would wait and look” Jan would pace around the room imitating a pensive Rodin, his hands in his pockets jiggling his keys. "Then a model would do something, sit down or turn to get something and Rodin would say STOP!” Jan would freeze as he stood, hips sticking forward. “And that’s how Rodin would get his poses!"

For us it was like listening to a preacher in some high roller church. He was very funny too. To other more casual students it was not so enjoyable.  After one such class I was walking across campus with a fellow art student, fully inspired, pumped up from the talk and I asked, what did you think of what he said?  She replied "that was a total waste of time.”  I was dumbfounded. She said she wanted to sculpt but he just kept talking and talking. "We had no time to do anything." I said yes I can see what you mean, I think he had something he wanted to tell us, to know and we are supposed to come in after hours and work on our own stuff.  That was how it worked.

Teaching

Jan’s practical teaching, hands on correcting every student’s problems, had waned by the time I got there.  He was through with babying people through their works and ending up with a bunch of Fisher clones.  He gave advice and talked more, letting the students discover for themselves.  At key moments he did step in and help steer people back in a better direction.  Perhaps this also had to do with the large commission work he was getting which limited his time teaching but since he did all his own work at the Ceramics Studio, it was immensely helpful to see how a working artist got commissions and created pieces for clients.

After two semesters of sculpting I put forth my best effort and created Christ
Healing the Blind Man. Jan was amazed with my progress. I did it all by myself
in the summer with no advice from him. He was proud of what I did and showed
it to other art professors.

Jan always wore nice cloths. Black pants and a nice aloha shirt.  He would pace up and down as he taught. He would sometimes demonstrate, along with a running commentary on what he was doing: "Don’t tickle the clay!  I should have a speaker at the corner of the studio and anytime anyone touches the clay too much the speaker would go hehehehaha" and he would jump around like a monkey as he was making the tickling sound.  

If Jan just got off the phone with some good news like someone wanted to commission him, then he would get really happy. This is when he started talking of bigger things, of creating sculpture the whole world would stand up and take notice of--great sculptures that he and his students would create to glorify God and his kingdom, sculptures for Church buildings and temples, especially the temple at the new Jerusalem and the old Jerusalem. He wanted to make the 12 doors for the twelve tribes of Israel. He could almost taste it.

Happy day for me, a fulfillment of my professor’s wish that his students create
works for temples: the frieze above the Newport Beach Temple doors

Money!

Jan actually did well for himself when I was there, he had many commissions and pieces he sold.  In spite of this he talked to us of money and art. The big discussion for art students was always selling sculptures, getting commissions, and how to do it without, as Jan would say, ‘prostituting’ your ideals in the name of the all mighty dollar. "Money! Money! Jan would say in a deep cynical voice.  His favorite anti-establishment song was Money by Pink Floyd.

As we got out of the temple, Jan
pulls out a $50 note and says, "make
sure you rent a Lincoln Continental,
it’s a smooth ride."

This was in deep contrast to what he actually thought of money, he loved it.  Well maybe not love but it was a great weakness for him and whenever he had it, it burnt a hole in his pocket.  Whenever he would get a good sized commission he had a hard time not being too giddy and spending up large. He was very generous at these times.  He once said that if a beautiful naked lady walked through the door it would not be a huge temptation, but if someone walked in with loads of cash to tempt him, that would be a trial. I can hardly fault him as he was very generous to me and insisted on paying for a honeymoon to Maui for my new bride and I, and I did work for him to buy a very nice ring as well.

What stuck with me was this advice: Create for people who really understand what good art is, not the masses, ‘sculpt for other sculptors.’  It has been good advice but he forgot to say that you will feel good about what you do, receive praise from people who know good art, but most appreciating sculptors have no money, so you’ll hardly get a sale from it!

Fellow Jew and Brown People

Jan already liked me because I was from New Zealand. Of his own personal heritage Jan said he had Jewish blood. Jan thought from my looks and my eastern European heritage that I had Jewish in me too. He called me his fellow Jew. When he told me that I was Jewish too I said really?  He said yes.  I said well all right then. I have never been able to find out for sure if I was Jewish.  From his sisters, I'm not sure if he was Jewish either. His sisters once said to me that "Jan was the only Jew in our family." Jan stuck with this thread. He would ask the question, "who are the best today in every field of art, music or science? Jews, just like you and me". I had no idea what I was, my family history is murky, but if that meant he would take special interest in me and teach me, I would be Jewish. I was his fellow Jew.

A Samoan feast: Jan loved
culture and native peoples

Race was a huge part of it all for Jan.  Many of his sculptures were of Polynesians and their legends. He loved the Polynesians having lived in Samoa and Hawaii for over 25 years. He befriended Polynesians that understood him and adopted him as their own. His arms were tanned from the Hawaiian sun so looking at his own arms, after a while, he thought of himself as Polynesian too.  He would say the biggest shock for him would be each morning when he would look at his face in the mirror and see a white made staring back. Other times his realization of being white was not so subtle.  He related to me one experience when he was walking in Laie shopping center, when the hairs on his neck stood up, his senses became alarmed and a voice said watch out!  He pivoted his head in time to have his cheek grazed by the fist of some big polynesian. With the big Polynesian now off balance, Jan took off running to save himself. Those times for sure he knew he was a Haole (white person). He would say he understood why they (Hawaiians) hated white people after taking away their lands and their dignity.

Other Interesting Stories: Kama Pua'a Pays a Visit

Jan told some amazing stories but none were more amazing than the story he once told us when he was in the middle of creating works for the Grand Wailea hotel.

The Hawaiians have a legend of a pig man, like the native American's wolfman, who could change his appearance from a man to a raging pig.  Jan did a sculpture of the Kama Pu’aa (pig man) for the hotel on Maui. He started off with a maquette for approval.  He had the maquette at his home in Kaaawa.  One time during the day when the house was empty, he went upstairs to take a nap.  While half asleep he heard the sliding door open and a strange sound like cloven feet smacking the linoleum floor.  It could be heard moving around in the kitchen then onto the carpet and the distinct sound of it coming up the stairs.   Ka clop ka clop. Jan said, "oh no it’s coming up here!"  He covered his face with the blanket and refused to see what had just flung open the door to his bedroom and was hoping around his bed. Ka clop ka clop ka clop! Cowering, he said to himself "I’m not looking! I’m not looking!" Eventually the visitor went down the stairs and left.  He later asked a Hawaiian friend what that meant.  He said the Kama Pua’a was coming to see the sculpture you did of him and... he liked it.

A scaled up version of the pig man,
Kama Pua’a approved

The Duke

Third place? Wow not bad!

It is well known now that Jan created the famous statue of Duke Kahanamoku.  I was there at the beginning. One day he came into class (my second from him) and said they want a new statue of the Duke in Waikiki, anyone who wants to put in for it can count it as a class project.  Oh wow!  I wanted to try for it.  There were many art students. The only other student that tried was a senior student, he did a very nice piece. Jan also entered. Jan kept his sculpture a secret from us but helped me with mine, offering small advices. I had my Samoan friend Jerry Amua model for me.  Jan used the art model budget to pay for Jerry’s time. There were a few entires from all over the Western United States. After the judging Jan was announced the winner. Not normal in most commission competitions, but the judges decided to say which other pieces they liked and my piece was judged third best!  I was over the moon.  Imagine, I thought, I came third and I have hardly begun.  When will I have my own commission!!! Little did I know that it would be a hard slog and a few years down the road before it actually happened.

Don’t Change a Note!

A dainty figure of Hina and the Mo’o. Jan would say it
was a Polynesian version of Eve and the serpent.

Sometimes Jan would have me help on real commission projects. On one occasion a larger than life sculpture he was working on Hina and the Mo’o had a big crack developing in the lizard’s tail. Jan had to leave for the evening so he left it to Don Smiler (a past sculpture student) and me to fix it.  Our first approach was to drive spikes into the clay near the crack and repair the break. But as we drove spikes in the crack became bigger until a very big chunk fell off! I said lets do this right and lay in a better support structure with rods and pack in fresh soft clay.  If we try and stick the fallen piece back in, it will just fall out again.  So Don and I went to work and to make sure it was packed good. I had Don slap and pack the clay in with the side of a hammer.  As we got it back to where it was I said... hey stop!  Look at that!  Don stepped back and I said look it looks way better with that texture and the hammer marks in there it looks really good, like the tail is about to move. We were so proud of our work.  I thought it looked better, much better. Jan came in the next day and...it was like how parents feel when their toddler smears peanut butter all over the furniture, he hit the roof!  Me and Don were in trouble, but Don had got there before me and took the brunt so by the time I got there Jan was just mumbling to himself, fixing our mess and quoting from the movie Amadeus, "too many notes?...which ones should I change your majesty?..too many notes?!"




Jan Gets Let Go

The story of Jan’s termination after having him for a teacher for only two years is too long for me to cover in this post. I will say there was a lot of jealousy and dissatisfaction with Jan by both students and other teachers.  I was pretty much oblivious to all the drama, I was too busy being an art student.  One day, just before class, I came into to hear Jan say he was being fired.  It happened just before class so I sat down with the other students. I sat there upright with tears streaming down my face. After class Jan came to me and said it’s okay, it’s not right away, there’s still a little time to teach you before I go. And so it went.  It was a good time, not long enough, but I learnt enough from Jan to last me through those years-the years I had left at school, under new management.  It actually carried me even further than that, it took me about 8 years to figure out what Jan said and all he taught, how it all fitted together.  Once it did sink in, those years later, a light went on in my head and I now understood. With this understanding, with this gift, I felt like I was ready. I now had the confidence to take on the whole world.