PDX Profile: Mary Potts, and some awesome Art Clocks!

I love the clocks Mary Potts makes - they're colorful and whimsical, and way more interesting to look at than my little digital computer clock. Mary also makes wall art and recycled art, along with her husband. Check out their website, Infinity Arts Gallery.

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How did you first become interested in making art clocks?
My husband, Justin, was the one to come up with the idea of making clocks. When we began our company 7 years ago, he was making mandalas out of a bunch of old records and, looking at the hole in the center, saw the potential for making clocks. The first clocks were all made from 12" vinyl, 10" and 7" records, cd's, gears, washers, egg poacher pieces and other thrift store finds. Eventually, we discovered mdf (fiberboard), which opened up the potential for shape and size. We really had no idea how far we would go making clocks, but we've found great satisfaction making functional, affordable art.

How do you go about designing a clock? How much do form and function
influence your creative decision-making?
I love doodling designs in my sketchbook. Typically, I design all of my clocks on paper first, then I play with colors. I'm a total minimalist usually when it comes to designing. I am primarily interested in the combining of colors and shapes to pull each clock together. As for form and function, that's easy! When making a clock, the function is inherent in the design to begin with - I like having a structure like that to work within. The form can then follow in an infinite variety of ways...so long as the clock ticks and the pendulum swings.

What kinds of things inspire your work?
It seems that everything I set my eyes on becomes fodder for my creative process. I am attracted to the minimal and the repetitive in other people's designs and I'm inspired by shapes and designs in the natural world - flora in particular. Of course, I am inspired by my husband's and my son's art because it is all around me all the time.

What is your take on the difference between "Art" and "Craft"?
This is kind of a fun question to answer, in particular because I am a self-proclaimed student of cultural evolution and the role of women in history and religion. Historically, in patriarchal, male-dominated societies, the term "art" was reserved for predominantly male arts such as sculpture, painting, and architecture, whereas the term "craft" covered predominantly womanly arts (lesser arts, as they were deemed) such as pottery and weaving. Even though the terms have evolved beyond their superior/inferior roots, they are still extremely arbitrary. If I'm thinking about art and craft In an idealistic way, I think that art is purely an outpouring of creative inspiration, whereas craft is created with a specific end very much in mind.

What are some of your favorite creative spots in Portland?
Being very much a hermit, my most favorite creative spot in Portland is my home studio, which looks out to an acre of northwest forest and foliage. Aside from that, I enjoy perusing gift and home decor stores representing local artists, the Portland Art Museum, the pottery section at New Seasons, garage sales; and I love to sit with my sketchbook at the Haven Coffee shop on SE Division.