New Forms

 

 

"Canopic Forms"

 

 

Another view of vessels

I have been working with new ceramic forms and shapes while thinking about how a vessel could be used to "mark" events or periods of time. This has led me to consider the historic use of the vessel as a marker.  Inspired by the grave Stelae of many ancient eastern cultures as well as the North Carolinian tradition of using a jug as a grave marker I created a series of "marker vessels".  After throwing jug/bottle forms that were open I decided that I did not want the vessel to be "functional"  so I eliminated that by closing in the top creating a finial.  Experimenting with various forms over the last few weeks I have noticed that the vessels slightly resemble Egyptian Canopic Jars. I like this association and I am going to continue on with these forms and see what comes from this new direction.

What is your favorite color?

What is your favorite color?

At home with M109

Nothing like a bit of pressure to freeze my creativity. Usually when I work everything just flows, ideas come, I draw, I think, I make and everything works out nicely, lately this is not the case. Maybe it is the pressure of this being my last year in the MFA program or unrealistic expectations I put upon myself that every piece must be great, either way I have been struggling with a bit of artists block lately but I have had a few ideas I had to sketch out.

The first image above is based on the imaginary conversation I would have with my Father if he was still alive. My parents divorced when I was 7 and my Father passed away last year, because of this I did not know much about him, we had no silly family stories or shared confidences. The saddest part is we had just begun to get to know each other when he was diagnosed with Leukemia. We both thought he would beat it, I thought we would have more time but we did not. Now he is gone and I have realized I knew very little about him.  I do not know what his favorite movie, food, song, book or color was? Considering he was color blind I think that he would of had an interesting answer to that question.  (One might think someone who is color blind would not have a favorite color but I know this is not true.  Like my Father my son is also color blind and his favorite color is what we would call purple).

The idea of one last conversation with my Father has been playing over and over in my head. I imagine we would sit together in my Grandmothers living room in the hard ladderback chairs she had. Of course my Grandmother passed away many years ago but that doesn't matter.  I would ask him questions,  morning talk show style and he would answer me and smile at me with that quick impish grin I only know from photographs. All would be safe and right in the world, if only for a while. Anyway thats how I imagine it to be and since it's in my head thats how it is.

The second image is an portrait of an M109 at home, I'd explain more but I think I've rambled enough for one post............

The pot is BLUE!

I just finished putting the slip on my first composite vessel, as you can see it is blue! More to come.....

Begin.......

Large 3-part composite vessel

Two part body with neck

Three part vessel

After spending much of the last few weeks researching and drawing I finally began to work in the ceramic studio. I have created three composite vessels  to work on which are now ready for the "drawing" stage. I have formulated multiple slips that I will be using along with underglazes, lusters, mishima and image transfer to impart meaning onto the ceramic surface. Each vessel's shape represents my family dynamic at a particular point in my life that relates to the narrative on the surface of the vessel. This personal narrative will combine the iconography that I have developed from my "family stories" with the ceramic form creating my own visual language.

Paper Clay Dress Forms

Paper Clay Dress Forms

Detail showing soldier stamp

After experimenting with different porcelain paper clay recipes I have finally found one that is plastic enough to use for handbuilding vessels.  As in my shirt forms I am using a modified dress pattern to create a dress form, these vary in sizes from 5" to 24".  I impressed stamps that I carved out of clay into the surface of the clay before building the vessel. These stamps are based on my drawings of soldiers and airmen in different poses, some are saluting some are standing a parade rest and some are in battle dress uniforms. I also used stamps I made to mimic the tracks of tanks, Humvees and armored personnel carriers.  In some areas I used the flora stamps that were in my earlier work.  These images show the work unfired, since this is paper clay about 50% of what you see will burn away in the firing. I have no idea what it will look like or what will be left after I fire them.  For right now I am leaving these unglazed I like the rawness of the clay.

Image Transfer experiments

Paper Stencil Tile #1

Paper Stencil Tile#2

Paper Stencil Tile #3

Paper Stencils on Clay Tiles

Paper stencil on clay (detail)

 I have been exploring different ways of image transfer onto a clay surface. I have been using paper stencils that I cut out from my drawings. So far these work well for a basic shape but not for detail work, plus cutting the paper is very tedious and time consuming. I have found that Tyvek paper is better  than newsprint because you can reuse the stencil multiple times. I am researching screen printing on clay this should let me put in more detail. I have done plenty of lino/wood cut and etching but very little screen printing. In fact my only experience was in 7th grade when I made my own note paper (lines and all) now that was something to see!  I wonder if I still have any,  maybe I could use it to write this residency summary that I am procrastinating on? hmmmm....

Shirts!

First two forms

Form inspired by my father's Naval service

Warrior form

The four "shirts" together

During a bit of cleaning I found a box of old clothing patterns that I've collected from the 1970's and 80's. I have wanted to incorporate these into my work for a while but had not found a way until now.  I chose to work with a child's shirt pattern from a 1970's outfit.  I made a scaled down version of the pattern to create a simple shirt form. I then added details such as collars, pockets, buttons, military service ribbons, rank insignia and armor. I wanted to give each one it's own personality and animation to the form. So far I'm up to four "shirts" and plan to keep going, eventually making some life size ones. These images are of the unfired, unglazed pieces. I am still working on how to finish them, if I want to glaze them or paint them or what but I'm not worried I'm sure it'll come to me. I plan to explore other patterns and forms such as jumpers, dresses, blouses and pants and see where it leads. This is not what I had planned from my first project after returning from the residency but I am just going to go with it!