AMoA to play with fire in new show

As a kid growing up along the Delaware River in New Jersey, Don Reitz got his initial exposure to an artistic medium that would change his life.

"We would take our clothes off and cover ourselves with mud and declare ourselves 'mud people,'" Reitz said. "That was my first experience with mud, I guess."

He's yet to get it off of his skin, even at age 83.

Reitz revolutionized clay artwork in the 1950s, pioneering the use of modernist and expressionist techniques.

His latest works will be on display through Oct. 20 in Amarillo Museum of Art's "Revivals/Revolutions in Clay: Don Reitz Ceramics."

The exhibition opens with an artsafterdark party at 7 p.m. Friday.

"Playing with Fire: Hot & Spicy" will feature music by Sadie's Rangers, food from La Fiesta Grande and activities such as raku firing, games and clay sculpting. Party admission is $20 for nonmembers and free for members.

Reitz will give an artist's talk at 7:15 p.m.

Reitz likely will discuss his inspirations for these works: "Right now I'm into cosmic energy. I get an astronomy picture of the day, and to think that on my screen I'm looking at an image 500 light-years away, and to think, some day we're all going to be part of that one day.

"I've always been intrigued and amazed at the natural forces of the world," he said. "The clouds just excite the hell out of me, the winds, the rocks."

And he has always been in love with clay, he said.

"Clay can handle anything I want to do with it," Reitz said.