Smoke firing in a pit

1 November 2010 by 1 Comment

Been slow here as I’ve been busy with a myriad of other things, including estimates for two design jobs, hosting dinner for the family, finishing the basement (with salvaged materials) and moving more things from the old studio space downtown, including the kilns.

The electric kiln is mostly loaded for a bisque, including more small storm sculptures, parts of what will be an abstract figure for a lobby space at an Oklahoma college and some Christmas tree ornaments the wife and I have been toying around with. The derelict gas kiln I salvaged a few years ago was put to use for the first time yesterday in a smoke firing. It worked great for this, which is good because I’ve had a hard time finding metal trash cans which is what folks usually use for this kind of firing.

Didn’t try anything too much fun using just newspaper, small pieces of salvaged wood (mostly lath from the kitchen wall), a little sawdust and a few leaves. Since everything worked so well I’ll be adding some flashing slips and other more interesting objects in the future. As well as roasting marshmallows over the heat.

The most interesting thing yesterday were speckles on some of the objects (see last image in following gallery), something I did not get in an electric smoke firing.

Filed under Art, Ceramics, In the studio, Sculpture

Felted fruit sculpture

2 September 2010 by Leave a Comment

Rhonda McClure's felted sculpture of a watermelon with a spigot.

To the right is my favorite piece from the Nebraska State Fair (first time I’ve been in 13 years), which wasn’t even entered in the fine art category. It’s the Fair’s first year to be in Grand Island, recently relocating from Lincoln. The move, of course, caused a ruckus. If I recall correctly, the University of Nebraska wanted some of the former Fair property — just north of its city campus in Lincoln — for expansion. Grand Island was thrilled to be gifted with such an event, as most cities would be, but in some ways it’s already proven to be less than what was hoped for from what I can tell. Which I expected.

Unlike some states, such as neighboring Iowa, the Fair in Nebraska isn’t so much of a renowned event. It is nice, though, to have it on a brand new campus, and some people I talked to about the event thought that made the experience this year, brought it up a few notches.

Filed under Art, Central Nebraska, Fiber, Grand Island, Sculpture

Self-imposed . . . whoosh

7 June 2010 by Leave a Comment

Last month, May of 2010, I heard that old familiar whooshing sound as a self-imposed deadline skittered by. I had hoped to have put together what I considered an MFA ready body of work finished by that time, even though at this point I don’t plan on applying to any programs. This was merely a way of setting a semi-quantifiable goal for myself.

Now, if it weren’t for more work finding me (a good thing) and moving (another good thing) I would have in all likelihood made this deadline. Now that I’m working more and have a home of my own — just begging for walls in the basement and new paint and new kitchen cabinets — I’m trying to figure out how to adjust that goal.

Some of my recent work in the studio, playing around with different finishes.

Filed under Art, Ceramics, Sculpture

More art with clouds

22 March 2010 by 2 Comments

Cloud related artwork I’ve come across in the past couple of months (it doesn’t come up very often from what I can tell).

This first painting is by Bruce Lowney. Via my friend Joel Armstrong.

And now for some of Joe Page‘s fluffy cloud inspired ceramic objects. Via The Mud Bucket.

Filed under Abstract art, Art, Ceramics, Painting, Sculpture

Thomas Lauerman’s clay clouds

27 February 2010 by 3 Comments

The MudBucket Blog featured Tom Lauerman’s ceramic clouds last week. From Lauerman’s website:

    During a residency at the Kohler Company Arts/Industry program in 2005 I began thinking about using a very durable material in a form adapted from something ephemeral. I worked through a series of cloud forms and formations, looking at representations of clouds in science, in art history, and in various cultures.

The storm form below looks a lot like an idea I’ve sketched but haven’t had the chance work on (story of my artistic life). The clouds here are well modeled, although many of the peaks (so-to-speak) seem a little more angular than what I’ve actually observed in the prairie skies. Not that an artist must replicate in exact terms what we observe in nature.

I’d like to own this piece.

Filed under Art, Artist profile, Ceramics, Sculpture

Clay clouds by Stepanka Horalkova

18 December 2009 by 2 Comments

Stepanka Horalkova has been one of my favorite ceramic artists for a couple of years now. I glanced at her Etsy shop this evening and saw these great little clouds.

Filed under Art, Ceramics, Sculpture

Anonymity in handmade

9 November 2009 by 1 Comment

An observation from Julie Rozman’s Design-Realized blog, The Anonymous Pot:

    After eating from handmade pots two or three times a day for the last five months and drinking handmade far more frequently; after beginning to consider making some functional work to add to the cupboards; after using a friend’s collection of handmade pots; in handling and re-handling literally hundreds of pots while helping glaze, wad, and load them into a kiln: I realized my appreciation for the anonymous pot.

    It’s just a good, beautiful object. Doesn’t matter who made it, just that somebody did. Doesn’t have to shout the name of the maker. Maybe better if it doesn’t. So the functional object is the foundation for a composition. If it’s a composition that stands alone, so much the better. (Possible? Very architectural question, that.)

My thought in response: It’s more important for the artist to take pride in his or her craft than to desire credit.

Filed under Ceramics, Handmade, Sculpture

New Work: Red shelf cloud

6 October 2009 by 4 Comments

Really, really need to figure out how to photograph these things well. Regardless, here’s the most recent finished work from my studio, only the second in this series (if it can be called that) of minimalistic cloud forms carved from laminated wood. The first was Thunderhead.

Red shelf cloud square

I really like the way this one turned out, but it’s hard to capture its beauty in photographs. Some of the curves are very subtle and some of the woodgrain very fine.

Red shelf cloud square 2

This shelf cloud is crafted from four pieces of laminated redheart and finished with a satin poly. It’s roughly 16″ in length.

Filed under Art, In the studio, Sculpture

Modular studio shelving

11 September 2009 by Leave a Comment

Not much interesting news in the art world the past week or two, so as promised yesterday a photograph.

Modular studio shelving

More of what I assembled for my wife, but this time for the ceramics studio. I also added the shelving in the wall nook, formerly a basement window. Street level is now above the top of the window, hence the cinder block backdrop.

Since it didn’t happen last weekend, I’m hoping this weekend to finish this wooden sculpture. One or two more hours with the sandpaper ought to do it.

Filed under Art, In the studio, Sculpture

Clay sculpturing

28 August 2009 by Leave a Comment

In this installment of just for fun Friday, we watch a healthy young girl become a meth addict.

[YouTube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D75VEJyjxg&feature=player_embedded]

From sculptor Phillipe Faraut’s website:

    This 4 minute 54 second video clip started out as a family project intended to show the artist’s two young daughters the potential effects that drugs, particularly methamphetamines, can have on the human face. Faraut concentrated on the emaciation that occurs from the loss of appetite that all addicts of meth suffer. One of the challenges was to represent the mental state associated with drug addiction; mostly emptiness and lack of stamina. Both the original sculpture of the young mother and the final version are discussed in Faraut’s book Mastering Portraiture: Advanced Analyses of the Face Sculpted in Clay. Music by William Boutwell.

The music doesn’t suit the subject matter very well in my opinion, but it’s a very nice five minute demonstration of how to sculpt in clay, especially for people who aren’t accustomed to the medium.

Via CeramicErin on Twitter.

Filed under Art, Ceramics, Craft, Sculpture

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