Playing with Color & Dreaming
I spent a good part of last weekend in the studio. It was cleaner than it had been in ages, thanks to the tidying I did before the arrival of my new kiln, and the temperature was pleasant making frost bitten fingers a thing of the past (at least temporarily – it is still March afterall).
On Sunday, I loaded the Paragon kiln full of kid’s work for my Monday and Tuesday after school clay classes and then debated what I wanted to make. I stood there and looked at my clay – but I didn’t really want to make any one particular thing. I remembered all the slip that I had stored in my studio and my intention to do a little murrini (most often associated with glass or polymer clay) work with colored porcelain.
Bascially, I added mason stains to porcelain slip in the range of about 10- 15% depending on color. Some are more intense than others. I started each batch out with 1000 grams of slip and then added between 100 and 150 grams of mason stain. At this point, I have a robin’s blue, yellow, and French green. I already have some black, cobalt blue and green slip made up. I intend to make some patterned loaves which I will cut paper thin to apply to wheel thrown work. I may also make some smaller ones to use for jewelry. To mix the slip, I used an immersion blender – and the results look just a bit like a thick creamy milkshake. 
The last image shows the new robin’s egg blue slip drying on plaster. Once the plaster has sucked enough water from the slip, I can wedge the clay up and use.
Meanwhile, I had the most vivid dream ever the other night. I think I must be feeling some anxiety – I have a show coming up in mid-April and I’m participating in the guild’s sale taking place on the first weekend in May. I haven’t been terribly productive lately and am slowly slipping into panic mode. Anyway, the other night, I dreamed that I was making the most wonderful ceramic piece unlike anything I’ve made before – I wonder if I should attempt to make it?
If successful, it will be shown at the:
“Fine Art of Craft: Artists Invite Artists” Invitational
Center for the Arts Evergreen
April 25 – May 23, 2008
Opening is April 25, 2008 from 5:00 to 8:00 pm
I’d better get on it! That’s it for today,
~Cynthia
Colored Clay
Last summer, I started some experiments using mason stains to color porcelain to use in my work. I was inspired by an article in Pottery Making Illustrated featuring the work of Chris Campbell, a few years ago.
I didn’t get far and became distracted by other techniques I wanted to try and life itself. I still have a few blocks of colored clay, but at this point, they probably need to be reconstituted. I was reminded of my experiment the other day, when the green pendant on the right sold. I was quite pleased that someone bought it, and had recently been considering removing one of these from my Etsy Shop for my own use.
I checked out some books from the Colorado Potters Guild the other night when I attended new member orientation, including Colour in Clay by Jane Waller. As I glanced through the book, the section on “agate” ware caught my eye and I remembered some of my own work, now long gone from my possession.I have a whole bucket of porcelain slip in my garagio right now that I plan on staining soon to use in my work here at home. In addition to Chris Campbell’s work, I love the work of Jane Peiser and Vince Pitelka.Meanwhile, I picked up 25 pounds of ^10 porcelain to make some work for a gas firing that the guild is going to do in a few weeks time. They’re having a workshop on how to fire the big gas car kiln and I’d love to sneak a few pieces in.
Have a good weekend,
~Cynthia
& Honeysuckle Vase Update">Colored Porcelain & Honeysuckle Vase Update
After starting up my own studio last spring, I’ve been doing a lot of experimenting with different techniques to find my own voice, if you will. It seems like there’s just no end to the techniques and processes in the ceramic arts. I have really been enjoying image transfer on clay and just ordered 100 sheets of traditional decal paper from Ceramic Supply, so expect a lot of this to crop up in my work in the future.
Meanwhile, I have been meaning to play around with some Millefiori/Murrini techniques using colored clay. Some of the artists who inspired me are Jane Peiser, Vince Pitelka and Chris Campbell among others who all use the medium quite differently. I am truly inspired by Jane Peiser, who according to her website is 73 years old (though the website is older – she talks about it being winter in NC and we know that’s just not true) and is still producing art- my hero! Forget about retirement when you’re doing what you love.
Anyway, last spring, I had colored some porcelain with Mazerine blue mason stain and another 1 pound block with a green stain. I forgot about them until recently when I discovered them sitting on the shelf behind some glazes. I decided to whip out a couple of pendants to see how they would turn out. I have to say that I’m pretty pleased. I think today, I’m going to mix up a few more batches of colored clay, but instead of wedging the color in, I’m going to mix the stain in with 2 cups of porcelain slip which I already have made up and then dry them on a plaster slab for later use. I wedged in the color for these and I remember thinking that there had to be a better way because that was a lot of work to throughly mix in the stain.
I’m going to load my bisque kiln today with some of the work from David’s special order. I had hoped to have more work at the bisque stage, but it just hasn’t happened. I’ve been too busy doing something close to nothing (who knows who sang that ditty?). Actually, just enjoying the summer with my daughter and watching lots of movies – just saw Miss Potter and The Last Mimzy this past week. Loved them both!
Till later,
Craft Vs. Art
In an effort to boost the profile of working with clay from craft to fine art, artists will often change the verbiage to assist in that end goal. For example, pottery becomes ceramic art and a pot becomes a vessel to help differentiate the two. Where do I stand on this issue? I think the lines between craft and art are blurring and there’s just too much happening in the art world to draw a distinction. Traditional mediums are being stretched and manipulated beyond historical norms. I would like to think that the cream will always rise to the top – and that’s true for any medium. There will always be great painters and then there are those who love to paint but just aren’t that good at it. Should that stop the challenged but equally passionate painter from making art? Hell no!
I feel a tangent coming on that I had better stop dead in its tracks! Think about the words though. I’m looking at galleries nationwide that I would like to submit work to be considered for representation. But, I’m paying attention to how the galleries are marketing themselves. Does “craft market” or “fine craft gallery” sound better? Clay work is still put in the craft category, although, I have noticed more of the high end galleries who deal in clay do away with the nomenclature such as The Garth Clark Gallery in NYC who specifically represent ceramic work and artists or AKAR, a architecture firm and gallery in Iowa. Each of these galleries features the work of some of the really big names in the Ceramic Art world.
I think I helped sort it out in my mind as to what consititutes the difference between pottery and ceramic art. To me, the word pottery denotes anything that is functional such as dishes, mugs etc. that we use everyday. The term ceramic artwork applies to anything that is non-funcitonal or that could perhaps stand on its own with no regard to function. Could a wheel thrown mug be art? I suppose so – but it had better be really special. And, finally good craftsmanship is paramount regardless of medium. Who wants their painting to warp or fall off the stretcher bars? Unless of course, it’s suppose to do that as some sort of statement on decay or something. Feel free to weigh in.
I’ve been thinking about how to accomplish the “pot a day” challenge that I posed for myself. I do think that I will make work in advance; the challenge will be in the surface treatment of each piece. I even thought I could bring pots with me camping – some will end up in the fire pit – just to see what will happen.
Meanwhile, my husband and I celebrated 18 years of marriage yesterday with margies on the patio. We were trying to remember who sang “Happy Anniversary Baby” back in the ’70s. I guessed Little River Band, he wouldn’t commit but didn’t think it was LRB. Lo and behold, he had loaded Best of LRB on the iPod and guess what? I was right. It was quite the coup for me, since my husband is “Mr. Music”. He likes to stump me all the time playing “name that band”. Every so often, I can pull one out of my hat. We played the song, and decided that it wasn’t such a good anniversary song. The lyrics are about a woman who leaves him and he’s still singing happy anniversary baby, got you on my mind.
Have a good week,
