We sat with Tomas Dauksa to discuss his mythical ceramic figuerine series Bigfoot, and why, for an artist traditionally trained in painting, clay is the perfect medium because he can break the rules without actually knowing them.

So how did you get into ceramics?

My journey into ceramics is best explained through my journey into the Bigfoot series. Over 10 years ago, I was walking in this forest, in this kind of swampy place, and I found these huge nests made of small branches on the forest floor. Instantly I decided that it was made by Bigfoot. After I returned home, I started to question myself, why did I think that Bigfoot made these nests? There are far more and much simpler explanations to what these nests were. This is how I started thinking about why people believe in Bigfoot, and how much can we prove that it exists, or it doesn’t. This is how the Bigfoot project started.

To realise the project, I started making these ceramic figurines. Ceramics is very appropriate for this because a lot of information that we receive from historical or archaeological sites, from ancient civilisations is through ceramics, for example broken vases or figurines. 

When I began, the figurines were basic, and the sizes were no more than 10cm high as I wanted to use the amount of clay that would fit in a hand. As the project evolved, I started glazing them with gold or platinum, and constructing terrarium situations for them.  As I added further elements, the mythology surrounding the project started to develop. This is when I also started making the editions. Not just because I thought it would be cool, but I wanted to increase the volume of their existence in a sense so that the Bigfoots would propagate more, so that they would inhabit more areas, and things like that.

"This is important for me, experimenting, playing, and avoiding rules by not knowing them"

Are there any specific materials you really like to use? For example the gold, why were you drawn towards using gold rather than a different finish?

The clay I use is one that can take high temperatures because it’s more robust afterwards. It would technically stay outside during the winter and it should be okay. Although I’ve never actually tried that… 

This comes back to those excavation sites or archaelogical areas where the clay is Tarkota and fired clay. The longevity of the material paired with the simplicity, the fact that it’s just earth that you dig out, is very fascinating to me. 

I am also interested in porcelain because it has bone ash in it, it makes me think about dinosaurs and the bones that are left as fossils. Both of these materials have longevity but they are also connected to the past, they hold lost memories. 

I was drawn to gold because I was thinking about what would be the most ridiculous thing I could do with the project. And that was a golden bigfoot with ruby eyes. So that’s what I did. I gilded two Bigfoots, bought four ruby’s and these were the first royal Bigfoots. This began my thinking about the social structure of the Bigfoots. For example, the sages of Bigfoots could have green eyes with emeralds, and other higher status Bigfoots could have sapphires. I started playing with platinum, and the colours and properties of the gems, thinking about what these materials bring conceptually to the project. This allowed me to expand on the mythology and narrative of the Bigfoot community that I was creating.

And the terrariums? How did that thinking come about? 

I wanted to give the Bigfoots agency, and give them something to do! If you only have the figuring it just stands there, but if you have trees and grass, they can generate narrative for the story. There was a lot of possibilities for the different narratives. I decided that the Bigfoots could inhabit a parallel dimension to ours, imagining that they would travel through different dimensions using portals. There are some terrariums with portals where they’re watching the portals, maybe they’re getting ready to travel. Some might have some of their own personal dramas.

"I decided that the Bigfoots could inhabit a parallel dimension to ours, imagining that they would travel through different dimensions using portals."

How do you create the editioned works?

I make the original ceramic base entirely myself, then with the editioned works I work closely with the manufacturers. For example with the porcelain, the manufacturers are the only certified porcelain makers in the region. They are part of a tradition of making them. None of the editions are factory made, they are all handmade, they have this human touch. 

How does ceramics feed into the rest of your practice? Do you ever incorporate them into something else? 

From the Bigfoot project, I moved to the Fountain project. This is because ceramics kind of moved with me through different projects. I did not intend to use ceramics for the Fountain, but it felt the best way to do it. 

I have other plans to make other projects with ceramics, but not entirely with ceramics but to incorporate them with metal and other elements. Working with ceramics has changed the way I think, making me imagine how I can make things better. Before, my pieces were a lot more minimalistic, with clean, sharp lines. Now I enjoy working with floral or animalistic shapes. This is partly because I started working with ceramics.