Mexico Show

Before I departed Oaxaca last March, I left several sculptures with the Larimar Gallery for a show they were going to install in the coming weeks. The gallery is newly renovated and it looks pretty cool. It’s been so long I forgot what I even left them! Nice to remember and see some of them again. Link above is a little video of the show at Larimar.

Neither Fish Nor Fowl

I like the contrast between the smooth ethereal face and hair with the highly detailed almost agitated wing patterns and the scale pattern on the other side. (You can’t see the scale pattern well at this stage, they will show up once I apply oxides and fire.)

Experiment with Color

I have made a semi-abstract, mostly form-based figure that i want to experiment on with color applications after the bisque firing. The fight was, as always, keeping her as abstract as possible. Adding boobs was a real quandary — I didn’t want to do it, but I just had to. I thought the form called for it. Not sure if it was that or just me veering into figuration.

Different clay, different results

I was surprised at the color this clay turned after a firing of cone 6. I’d used it before and fired to cone 4, which gave a dark brown with red overtones. I lost most of the red overtones with cone 6, but got an amazingly rich dark chocolate brown. Still deciding whether or not to fire to this cone again.

Resurrection

Since I lost the piece ( see Before the Fall below) due to some flaw in my process, or the barro negro clay that I’d ever worked with, or the temperature, or just bad luck, I tried to do it again. Twice. Neither time did it turn out as well as the original. This reddish one below has been fired and surfaces treated. It is about half the size of the original and it is going to be shown in the Larimar Gallery this spring. Below is the one I’m working on here at home in Vermont. It is bigger, as big as the original. I”m using a stronger clay the can stand up on its own pretty well. It isn’t done yet, but it’s beginning to set so I won’t be able to do anything too dramatic now. I don’t want to just copy the original, even if I could. I want to get the feeling of the original, capture the sweeping masses, the strangeness of the heads. Not there yet.

Before the Fall

I made this in Oaxaca a month or so ago, using barro negro, the black clay that comes from the village of San Bartolo. They don’t usually sell their clay to outsiders, so I felt lucky to get a chunk. It was weird to sculpt with — very smooth, little grit or heft, felt a little like working with porcelain. I made a few smaller pieces then this one, that just came out. I hardly remember how I even did it. But it just poured out and was powerful. After I finished hollowing, which was tricky, I set it out to dry slowly. Over a few days I began to see a crack or two developing. Then more cracks. And the following day it had just basically imploded.

Grotesque Series

These troll-like humanoids keep appearing when I start working with a lump of clay. They have a strange pathos and I’m happy to usher them into being.

Dedalus

I made this sculpture of Dedalus for a show a few years ago. The show was mounted, fittingly, in the wine store named Dedalus. The piece was purchased and haven’t seen him since. I wonder about him from time to time, so just pulled up a photo to remember.

Snow White & the Seven Dwarves

I had once made the 7 dwarves. They were tiny and I loved them. They sold, so I guess I was subconsciously trying to get them in my life again. Snow White is new to the party.

Late Fall Crop

I made this assorted group of oddballs the last month or so. I am trying to complete firing before Christmas so I can leave for Mexico in January with a clean worktable and nothing unfinished. I’ve been asked by a gallery director in Oaxaca to show some of my work, so I might bring a few of the smaller pieces with me.

Onion Bag

There are a couple of these guys. Martians with onion bag marks. They are so serious!

Intense

This piece blew up in the first firing. Well, the back did. I repaired it and did what I could on the surface that wouldn’t require another firing. In spite of the flaws, this one still pleases me.

Alligator Man

He was deformed and convoluted from the start. So it made sense that the surface would also be a crazy hodgepodge. He sold immediately during my open house.

Slit

The front of this one was very uninteresting to me, and I just couldn’t bring her to life. So during the hollowing process, I just tried this kind of decorative cut-out. With some underglaze, it became the best part of the piece.

Fish Eye

Close-up of this guy who seems to be part alligator, part pit bull, part freak. He’s kind of adorable, though some find him scary.

Midway Point

Bisqued and awaiting surface treatment. Am considering trying a big watery, colorful underglaze drip. Will post results.

Color Drip

This was an “example” head I made while teaching a class to sculpture students. I forgot about it when I got home and barely had time to hollow it out before it dried completely. Didn’t have much invested in it, so I felt free to experiment with dripping underglazes.