Beauty Is in the Bag with Burt Horowitz’s Reality-Distorting Pottery

The boutique hotel El Encanto, a Belmond Hotel, in Santa Barbara sees luggage of every conceivable shape and size, from the smallest handbag to the heaviest suitcase. However, when pottery artist Burt Horowitz checks into El Encanto, he brings luggage the likes of which no employee — or, for that matter, no guest — has seen before. Though appearing to be normal leather bags, upon closer inspection, Horowitz’s bags reveal their stony secret: They are made entirely of ceramic clay.

When I met Horowitz at El Encanto, where he regularly exhibits his pottery, he quickly made me feel at ease in the upscale venue. After shaking my hand and exchanging introductions, he led me with authority (standing nearly a head taller than me) to a side table, and we began discussing his work. He began by excavating his relationship with the material itself, telling me, “I love the expression of clay, because clay is just dirt. I mean, it is a primal material; it comes out of the ground.” Illustrating the relationship between humans and clay, pottery connects Horowitz to a prehistoric process. He went on, saying, “For me, working with clay is the essence of life.”

In his current practice, Horowitz tends toward unconventional works of pottery, creating pieces that serve to incite an emotional response. However, that wasn’t always the case. He began working in pottery in college in Iowa (Drake University) as a break from his classwork as an economics major. After a career as a business owner and salesman, Horowitz found creative expression in the primal nature of clay, something that he has continued into his retirement in Santa Barbara. Born and raised in Chicago, all of his children moved to California, as well as a grandchild, and now “here we are and absolutely loving it,” said Horowitz.