I brought several pieces home from Mexico after giving them an initial bisque firing. In my Vermont studio, I applied color underglazes, topped with a satin clear glaze. Made a big mistake — the clear glaze fired at a higher temp than the glazes or the clay, so it remained a white thick paste on top of all the color after firing. I tried scraping it off, no go. Couldn’t fire higher as clay would melt! Only way to save the pieces from the trash can was to try to reapply color using acrylic paint. Results below were surprising OK!
Fired Up to Go
The pieces I’ve made this winter in Oaxaca are about to get fired, just days before I am flying home to Vermont. I made a wonderful contact with Yari Montes, a fantastic sculptor in San Miguel, Etla, who is letting me use her kiln this year.
Getting Started
Working on the rooftop studio, hummingbirds swooping in to take a look, the din of the city thrumming in the background.
On a Roll
Just getting time to start posting the work I’ve been doing in Mexico this winter. It was a slow start, but I’m getting up to speed now. This is the latest one.
Experimenting with Materials
Made my first cat. And used terra sigillata for the first time. The experiment was successful I think. The surfaces are silky, the color is rich, and the cat looks sassy!
Lady is Polished
Photo of her before firing and surface treatments appears below. The use of terra sigillata really brought her surface to a silky polish.
Color Coming
I’ll be off to Mexico in a few weeks and am looking forward to the blast of color that Oaxaca offers — fruit, flowers, architecture, clothing. Makes me happy and definitely influences my sculpture.
Front and Back
My favorite part of this new piece is the back. I was going for these smooth, planar intersecting shapes. Once I put a hat on her I began to appreciate the front.
Gathering Together
Putting some of these pieces together has been interesting. I see things differently through this lens.
New Color Combo
I’ve been experimenting with a new clay that fires very dark chocolate brown. Looks delicious, especially with contrasting underglazes in white, black, and orange.
Homeward Bound
Picked up this lady and five other pieces from Larimar Gallery in Oaxaca this week. They’d been on exhibition since last spring and it was time for them to go home. Glad to see them again!
Cooked Clown
This guy has been through the kiln three times. Each time I”m wildly throwing color on him. He has at least one more to go. I’ll get this right some day! (Actually this is a technique used by some very fine sculptors. I think they mostly work at universities so the cost of multiple firings is carried by the institution.)
Buttoned Up
I discovered I liked making buttons (see Mouse, below), so here are two little charmers with their accent buttons.
Mouse Gets the Treatment
This rather large torso was treated to a barrage of color treatments, including underglazes and copper carbonates and you name it, I threw it on. I like the result. Interesting cause he’s such a grim, impassive character and his surface is so wild.
Trio of Duos
Got interested in making two figures together as one flowing shape. Tried new underglaze techniques.
A Colorful Summer
I’ve been getting bolder with expermenting with color after taking a workshop with Kensuke Yamada. When I was in Provincetown this summer I went to see a sculpture of his installed on the ground of the Truro Art Center. A five-foot yellow man.
Evolution of Birdie
This piece was inspired by an image I saw in the film, Birdie. It struck me so deeply I took a photo of the television screen, and later found the image itself online in a poster for the movie (see gallery below, first image). I first started trying to capture the pose, which to me communicated vulnerability, wishfulness, and even a little danger. To achieve the pose, though, I needed to create a wall piece, as making it balance as a full three-dimensional sculpture was beyond me. But the result felt flat (literally!) to me, and I began to bend it off its base. I opened up the tight legs-to-chin pose, then closed it again. As I worked it in 3D, everything changed, including gender. I think the final image, while far from the original inspiration in many ways, transmits much of that same feeling to me that the original did.
Where this piece ended up.
One Plus One
Lately I’ve been working with raku clay which is very stiff and easy to build up,, quickly. I’ve made several standing figures in twos, figures intertwined in some way. It has been satisfyihg to build up so easily, and challenging to get a two separate figures together, looking interesting from all perspectives.
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
The annual art show at Penny Cluse gave the word “Place” as the prompt for any artist who wished to respond on an 8-inch square piece of wood. Kind of a challenge for 3-D art but fun. Between a rock and a hard place was my response to the prompt.
I made the rocks from clay. Then built a head to fit in between the rocks and a plastic “Hard Place” I attached to the side.
And Now for Something Totally Different
This sculpture keeps emerging. If you look farther down this section you’ll see it in various incarnations. This one came out of the kiln and the surface was too dark and just plain ugly. Nothing to do at that point but paint. I really prefer very basic organic surfaces — simple black or brown underglazes or oxides — so this is really out there for me. I’m going to add a gloss spray finish to really go whole hog.
