I’m about to leave Vermont for a few months and so I’ve filmed some of my recent work, just to remember what I’ve been doing as I begin working in my Oaxacan studio. I can see as I look at these videos on FB, that the colors don’t really show much, they look super washed out. Trust me, there are colors there on the surface, you just aren’t seeing them!
Crazy for Color
I have been trying different types of color treatments on my sculptures for the past few years. This year I turned up the throttle and really went crazy with color. I can’t say that I was successful all the time, but it was thrilling, if terrifying, to go whole-hog with color.
Big Ladies, Little Critters
I’ve made some very big, and some very small, pieces this summer and fall! Some of these sold at Burlington’s annual fall Art Hop. One of the chimera, the mouse man with a green tie below, was bought by a little boy who promptly named him Sylvester. The gorgeous pink oil painting behind the three big ladies is by Julie Davis, a painter with a studio in my building.
Three of the five Big Ladies I built this summer after a workshop with Michelle Gregor. They are about 2 ft. tall. Stoneware, underglaze.
Using up a bag of clay, chimera appeared. Winged equine, dogfish, and mouseman.
Known to me as Queen of Fucking Everything.
Mouseman left the entourage so Dogfish needed a friend, hence Piglet.
The back of Big Pink.
Sad-eyed lady of the lowlands.
Her Majesty
A large, kind of majestic female I made at a workshop with Michelle Gregor (see New Technique, below). She has been fired, at this point, 3 times, and will be fired again. Each time, new color applications of underglaze. I am liking all these large peaceful ladies presiding over my studio.
New Technique
I have started experimenting with using color washes on larger forms as a result of a workshop I took with Michelle Gregor at Blackberry Hill Art Center this summer. I have always loved her work — she is a fabulous painter and she manages to combine painting and sculpture in a terrific way. So I am trying her technique. At this point, just copying her but hope, if I get good enough, to add this kind of color work to my own, more gnarly sculptures.
Tat2
Wow this is one tough chick! I’ve made several of these busty broads and they all surprise me with their spit and vinegar.
The Leaner
I wanted a big lean so I mixed clays with this one — a smooth soft clay with a gritty robust clay. The engineering to support a leaning figure of over 17 inches takes some materials know-how (plus chopsticks as props)! I added several layers of ball clay on top to get this texture. I had hoped for a crackle but it didn’t happen.
Face to Face
One of these is quite small, the other rather large. Interesting to put them together, cara a cara so to speak.
Churlish Chicks
One is getting bitten by a snake and seems fine with it; other has a telescopic eye and torpedo tits. My gals are getting strange, no doubt about it!
Everything But the Kitchen Sink
I liked this piece raw, but once it was fired once, I hated it. I had tried a treatment before firing that didn’t work (ball clay applied on nose which should have resulted in crackles and it didn’t) so after first firing I threw just about everything on it. Transfers, paint, scratches. It ended up OK, but really, it still doesn’t thrill me.
Made for Each Other
I made this female figure my last two days in Oaxaca. She just sprang into life, surprising me as much as anyone else. She is drying in a closet until I return. Back home in Vermont, on my first day back in my studio, the man emerged. Clearly the same species as the woman and a wonderful partner for her! Too bad they are in different countries!
Tatoos and Graffiti
Scratching into surfaces allows oxides and underglazes to take hold and make a nice statement. I also like layering some 3-D shapes into the mix.
Mixing Metaphors
I work without a plan, just responding to the clay. Sometimes it results in a very confused piece! In this case my kind of reflective Asian looking figure, sprouted Zapotec sgraffti on its back. WTF?
Break the Rules
I didn’t go to art school, so I didn’t know you are not supposed to put one type of clay on top of another type of clay and expect it all to hang together through firing. So I put porcelain slip on top of a regular stoneware clay, then pressed an onion bag onto it for texture. Fired it. Applied some color. Looked fine! Just another reason to question authority.
An Arm and a Leg
Couldn’t decide why I hated this one so much. I kept hacking at it as it got drier and drier. When I took a photo and sent it to a friend, I suddenly saw the problem clearly. The arm had to go! Right?
Gnomo Misterioso
Had some fun with this one. First off, incorporated burlap into the piece with lots of slip, hoping it wouldn’t all burn out in the firing. And it didn’t. It still has one more firing, which will make the clay a much darker brown. After that I’ll do some surface coloration.
New Surfaces
Took a wonderful workshop with Lisa Clague on surface treatments, so I am beginning to experiment with that. Brings me back to white clay, which is a nice change. Just beginning to form some pieces, semi abstract, on which to try various treatments. Very early stages.
Too Much of a Good thing?
My experiments with terra sigilatta have been perplexing. I love it, then I hate it. The results have been so different every time I try. This batch produced too much shine for my taste.
The Power of a Cap
Until I put a baseball cap on this person, it was a semi-abstract human form. I wanted it to be abstract. But the damn baseball cap immedidately turned it into a him and him into this person you see. The power of a cap. It is unfired at this point. Got a ways to go.
Random Mexico
Why I am turning to color.
Mexico is a treat for the eyes.