2nd semester: new beginnings

On the way down to SF to see Annabeth Rosen's ceramic sculpture exhibition at Paule Anglim Gallery and the Stephen De Stabler totemic figure show at the De Young Museum, I passed a semi truck loaded with compressed car bodies, a sight that has always seemed hauntingly beautiful and frightening.  Naturally it made me think of John Chamberlain's work but also my own run over cups and George Ohr.  Upon return,  I embarked upon a new series of squashed and compressed vessels.  They are like the writhing bodies in Dante's inferno.  It has been years since I've thrown so it is a struggle!  I don't feel compelled to make them ideal forms which helps.  Bodies are not perfect and come in all shapes and sizes.  The first three pieces are in the kiln for bisque.  The glazing will probably be monochromatic.  I expect to try some with underglaze color before squashing them.  The third piece was beyond leather hard so the vessels cracked as well as slumped when compressed.

I also have a floor based mound in the works.  I drove out to my piano tuner's shop and picked up some old piano strings to extend ceramic pieces off of the mound.  I am hoping they will add sway and movement.

My first meeting with mentor Jim Melchert is scheduled for next weekend.  He has graciously offered to come to my studio to get an overview of work produced for the program and discuss goals for the semester.

squash pots 1a.

squash pots 1b.

squash pots 2a.

squash pots 2b.

squash pots 3a.

squash pots 3b.

squash pots 3c.

squash pots 3d.

 

Semester 2 Residency

Back from Boston just a few days.  I'm excited to have both Jim Melchert as my new artist mentor and John Kramer as academic advisor.  It will take some time to sort through all the comments received by both faculty and students about my work.  During my "Texting" seminar I was able to experiment with projecting words on to image and expect to be exploring more in this direction this semester.  I'll be looking for an additional installation space because my studio is too crammed, even with the newly build moveable wall.  I envision various levels of pedestals, from ground up and possibly fabric or painted areas behind the wall mounted works.  My goal is to continue to try to mash the abstract and figurative work, play off their differences, while using Dante's Inferno as an underlying narrative.

"Pound of Flesh" glazed ceramic on fabric covered disc with text projection.

Residency installation view with orange at AIB.

Side installation view at AIB.

Partial view of ceramic installation at AIB.

Last piece of semester

This piece combines aspects of my abstract and figurative work. Title is still to come.  I made the deflated swan and spiky form and realized it needed something to pull it together much like the doily in the other swan piece, hence the puddle with mirror.  The yellow string goes from the pull tag on the swan to wrap around the spiky form's neck.  There are three separate ceramic components and I may continue to adjust their position.

hand-built ceramic with mirror and string, 17"w x 9.5"d x 8"h

December

The semester is coming to a close.  I've had my last meeting with Robert Ortbal and am writing the semester summary.  It feels as if my work has blasted off and is now returning back to earth.  I've enjoyed the freedom but am trying to rein it in with this last piece.  While it waits to be fired (as it dries), I will get back to reading and visiting the museum exhibitions that have opened in Sacramento and the Bay Area before the holidays kick in and my kids return home.
   This piece, still untitled, portrays a deflated swan beside an organic spiked orb.  A thin rope will run from the next of the swan and loop around the orb.  The orb will probably be glazed a rustic golden combination of colors where as the swan will have a matt finish over the underglaze to appear plastic.  With this piece, I am combining the use of amorphus organic forms with the trompe l'oeil icon of contemporary culture to see where they meet.

hand built ceramic greenware: 17"w x 11"d x 8"h

two more

Here are the last two stragglers from the previous series.  Both wall works.

ceramic with wire. 12" dia. x 8"

ceramic with astro-turf. 8" dia. x 4.5" (blue is darker)

November update

Mentor Robert Ortbal encouraged me to limit my pallet so here are the results of my last firing.  A few more pieces are on their way up in the kiln.  These works come from a such a different place than my narrative pieces and although I like the results, I am less emotionally attached.  They are more cerebral and this detachment has me questioning the purpose of my artmaking.  The things that usually drive my work (color, produce, familiar objects) have been put aside and left me in a melancholy slump. Like taking my medicine, I know this is good for me can only hope what I've learned will feed into other work.  Last week I sat in on a lecture by Martin Bresnick at the Festival of New American Music at CSUS. He is a fantastic composer and former music history instructor of mine 30 years ago at Yale.  Listening to him talk about his work and hearing his lush composition for saxaphone made me miss the music making in my life and how music touches the senses in such an immediate and temporal way. That is ultimately what I want from both the process and creation of my artwork.

ceramic with wire,  wall mount. 11.5" dia. x 8"

ceramic with wire, wall mount. 9.5" x 9" x 9"

ceramic, wire, and astro-turf, wall mount. 14" dia. x 8.5"

ceramic, wall mount. 9" dia. x 3"

ceramic, 5" x 4" x 3"

ceramic, 8" x 7" x 5.5"

ceramic, 8" x 7" x 5.5"

The Grass is Greener...

Astro-turf will poke through the holes. To be glazed white or pink with black rims. Wall mount.

Wall mount.

Wall mount.

same as above, front view

Wall mount.

The focus of my recent studio work has been with the additive process of combining multiples of hand formed pieces.  After these are fired, I'll be using monochromatic glazes: black and white with perhaps a dash of red, and possibly black and pink.  The extended pieces will probably be on wire not wood as shown.  I am continuing to explore mound forms because they seem more organic.