7/14/13

No. 9 - for Bob and Edi's 55th.

The latest ceramic project, a picture frame done for my parents 55th wedding anniversary. Begun on the fly, with no sketch or plan ( a rare occurrence these days) I fell back upon an old design motif I had created weeks ago for another project. I ended up getting lost, getting found and in the end feeling O.K. about where it ended up. Color is still a battle as the under glaze will be dramatically transformed into much richer colors once fired and no matter what you do, your eye attaches to the palette you see before you as you work. In my case this is especially odd as my work is very much about color .
Whenever I teach, I usually advise folks to walk away from a piece -give themselves a day or more to detach and  then come back to their work with fresh eyes and decide what else needs to be done-if anything. I'll be taking my own advice on this piece as it is so full of detail that to add to it could either perfectly balance it off or destroy it and I want to make sure I make the right choice. 

7/6/13

No. 8

Today I took a piece of bisque from this:
to this: 
Not bad for a days work. (Actually, it was a very wonderful way to spend this otherwise incredibly hot day!) 

6/29/13

Making something new : ceramics

I have been working in a new medium for several months now: ceramics. I was in a creative rut of sorts and had been looking to try my hand at something new,outside my comfort zone...foreign even. It has been an exploration of how underglazes work and how best to do what I do, artistically, in this new mode of art making. 


It all began with a simple vase. 
Then I tried my hand at a plate-seen above.With each object, I learned something different and refined how I did things.
Next I got ambitious and tackled a tall, thin pitcher. Working with such a 3-D surface proved challenging. 
Seeking refuge project No. 5 was  a cake plate with pedestal,seen here the  day it emerged from the kiln. 
Until now, I had been designing as I went. I shifted gears, got more professional about it all and began with my sketchbook. Having sketches proved to be a huge help. The eventual piece will rarely be 100% true to the sketch upon which it is based but it is helpful to go in with a game plan. The sushi plate was born. With this particular project I also got very involved with layering of glazes. The piece has yet to reach the kiln & I ca not wait to see what results from this experimentation.
Also based upon a tight sketch: the latest cake plate. It too involves multiple layers of different color underglazes. 
The small cup is yet another ongoing experiment ,made up of many, many overlapping layers. My work in silkscreen involves multiple layers and that mode of working totally fascinates me, especially the way in which one layer impacts the next.