Review

Pepper Shaker and Salt Bowl With Spoon, Porcelain.

Susan Speck

10 a.m.-6 p.m.

Eclectics Gallery
7015 Oak St.
Kansas City, MO
816.361.6643

Hours: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday
Artist on permanent display.

Artist's site: http://www.susanspeck.com
Gallery site: http://oureclecticlives.blogspot.com

Early in the most excellent Arthur, Dudley Moore poses two loaded (in several senses) questions:

"Isn't this fun? And isn't fun the best thing to have?"

Sometimes, yes. And today is one of those times. It's spring, it's beautiful out ... and just a mile south of the Brookside Art Annual, at Eclectics Gallery in Waldo, you can both admire Susan Speck's talents and grin at how she expresses them in what she calls "hand made, funk-tional porcelain."

Speck's art is on permanent display at the co-op gallery, where she is a member; you might also recall seeing her work  outdoors each year at the Art Westport festival. Either way, you won't forget it once you've seen it — because of all the varieties of fun, the slightly skewed variety has to rank as one of the best.

Speck delivers that not in spades, but in kitchenware and "Bone Guy" figurines, her take on Mexican Day of the Dead figures. Sometimes she combines the two, as in the Tim Burton-esque salt and pepper set pictured above. And yes, they're fully functional; each of Speck's creations is glazed for home use.

I am inspired by myth, music lyrics and story-telling, Speck writes. I tend to see the dark side of things, so I like to choose subject matter that is a bit dark ... a little creepy or disturbing. I also like to tweak the subject matter if it happens to be on the 'precious' side.

No big-eyed waifs and baby angels here, no. And that's a good thing.

A fun thing.

And, after all, isn't fun the best thing to have?