Time for another slide show…
I went to the Art Student’s League of Denver today to trim my pots that I threw last week on the wheel. Lucky for me, I remembered my camera, though I felt a little dorky photographing my work in public. There was another person in the studio at the time and I had to explain that I blog. And, what would an art blog be without pictures?
I mentioned last week that I was nervous that I wouldn’t be able to remember how to throw and was pleasantly surprised to discover that it was like riding a bike! I was little rusty, but I didn’t fall off my wheel or anything. I decided to return today in advance of the class tomorrow so that I could trim (make pretty) my pots that I had thrown last week, so that I wouldn’t have to do it tomorrow. Ideally, I should have gone in last week because these were almost too dry to trim.
I should mention that when working with clay, it’s not WYSIWYG. I am working with a cone 6 stoneware clay body. When in its raw state the clay is a dull gray color, however, once I bisque fire the piece, it will become an off-white color. The same is true of glazes. I hope I can document this for you tomorrow when I glaze my UFO from last summer.
Back to the slide show…green ware is basically manipulated clay that is dry to the touch, but has not yet been fired in a kiln. I was going to say thrown clay, but it could also apply to ceramic work that has been hand built as well.
I have been busy updating my website this week and even started a new “Earth” series “soft painting”. Thanks goes to fiber artist extrodinaire, Lisa Call, who alerted me to the term soft painting. The image below is going to be the base for my painting. After looking at my last work, I was reminded of an intrusion. More to come on this later in the week.
On a side note, today marks my 200th post since the birth of my blog. I will send a fabric aceo to the first person who leaves a comment! Send me an email with your address if you are the first to comment.
Collision
I was fairly productive yesterday and managed to finish 2 new fabric postcards and this piece (above) that I am donating to the Art Student’s League of Denver, Mini March Madness Auction which will take place on March 3, 2007. I am really excited about this piece as it represents a new series that I am going to explore in paint, fabric and thread. I had so many ideas flowing through my head as I was making this and how I can tie it in with my ceramic work.
The new series is based on geological phenomena which I’ve decided to call the “Earth Series”. I was looking through an old geology text book of mine a few days ago and happened upon an aerial view of the San Andreas Fault. The photograph itself, looked like a beautiful abstract painting. So, I decided this would be the beginning of my new series. An exploration of the earth’s plates colliding, sliding and scraping against each other as the earth’s crust shifts and deforms the surface. Ironically, when I was studying plate movement in my geology class, we wondered aloud why developers are allowed to build on shifting land. So, I suppose this could also be read as a collision between man and nature as well.
I’m having a little difficulty in categorizing my work…is it mixed media, fiber art, painting, stitched painting? This piece was done using acrylic paint on cotton fabric, applique and machine stitching. I’m calling it a “stitched painting”, though it’s probably falls into the mixed media category.
If you want to see my new fabric postcards, I’ve listed them in my Etsy store. These were finished using some of my Shiva Paintstick backgrounds from a few weeks ago.
Ceramic UFO
I went into the Art Student’s League of Denver on Wednesday morning and spent about 6 hours in the studio. I was slightly nervous because I hadn’t thrown in such a very long time. Surprisingly, it’s just like riding a bike! I sat down and managed to throw 5 forms in a couple of hours, from bowls to my favorite narrow necked bottles. I’ll try to get into the studio again Monday when the pots have dried to a leather hard state so I can trim the bottoms and add a foot to the pieces.
While I was gathering all my supplies to go to the ceramic studio, I happened to find the piece that’s pictured above. I had previously shown this porcelain pot on my blog last summer as a slide show highlighting how I put the texture onto my work. You can see the slide show here. The texture was done by painting shellac onto a leather hard pot and then wiping away the excess clay. The shellac acts as a resist, so where there’s shellac, the clay surface remains. Where there is no shellac, the clay wipes away which leaves a raised surface. The shellac burns away once it’s bisque fired which is done at cone 04 or 1940° F in an electric kiln.
So where am I going with this? I am FINALLY going to glaze this poor abandoned orphan. I’m trying to decide which color glaze to use at this point.
Meanwhile, if you’ve happened upon my blog from the Art Quilt Ring or the Art 4 U blog and saying, “What the heck? This is supposed to be a blog dedicated to 2-d art.” Well, it still is. Only, it will now be combined with my ceramic work. I had a flash of inspiration yesterday while I was looking over some ceramic glaze technical reading material that I’m reviewing. Mixing glazes can make one feel like a bit of chemist and I had to pull out my geology book from school (one of the few text books I kept) to look up an element in the periodic table. As I was thumbing through my geology book, I was reminded how much I loved geology and decided to do a series of stitched paintings based on the earths minerals and rocks.
I had been trying to decide how to help my 2-d and 3-d work complement each other and I think this will be a good marriage! So, my donation to the league’s Mini March Madness auction is going to be a piece from my new series. (Fingers crossed, it will be good enough.)
A little ceramic/pottery humor
This was forwarded to me by my ceramic’s mentor at the Art Student’s League and I thought I would share it with you. I got a good chuckle and hope you do too!
Meanwhile, the auction at my daughter’s school was held on Saturday night and was a great success. The live auction brought nearly $27,000 and the silent auction totals are still being tallied. Last year’s auction brought the school almost $50,000 from the live and silent auctions combined after expenses. It was a great evening and I’m glad I was involved. That being said, I am looking forward to re-directing my attention and energies towards art.
What am I doing? I’m getting back into ceramics again and will begin by taking a class at the ASLD, starting this Wed. I think that I will be devoting a good part of my energies towards ceramic sculpture and wall pieces along with smaller hand thrown pottery and jewelry which I plan to sell on Etsy. I hope to find a gallery venue for my ceramic sculptures and wall pieces this year.
Am I abandoning 2 dimensional art? No, I’m merely committing myself to a medium that I studied in school and abandoned for some reason last summer. I have a new focus and energy and am undecided whether to divide my blog into 2 or to simply merge all my art work into one. Comments are appreciated.
I am donating a painted/stitched work to the Art Students League this month for a fund-raiser for the league. I will be posting progress photos of my work when I decide what famous painting I’m going to render in paint and thread. It’s the ASLD’s 20th anniversary and the auction will feature small works of art whose dimensions are 8″ x 10″ or smaller. The Mini March Madness auction will be held from 6PM to 8PM on Saturday, March 3rd. If you happen to be in Denver, CO on this date, come on by! Opening bids start at $50.00.
It’s starting to warm up here on the Front Range. Today it is predicted to reach 51° F, with similar temperatures all week long. What does that mean? All our snow is finally starting to melt…Yay! As it gets warmer I can begin on construction of my new studio/garage conversion. I can hardly wait to have a dedicated work space with ample room. For those of you who have seen my work space, you might say that it’s about time!
