After years of toying with slab bowls and the potter’s wheel, of borrowing from or flat out stealing every single good idea I saw in the work of the students and teachers around me, or in twenty years of back issues of Ceramic Monthly magazine…I finally fell into a pattern, and a style that felt like my own.
I worked with squeezed and rolled ropes of very soft, wet clay. I could plan the shape and form it, but only to a point. The weight and moisture content seemed to give the clay a mind of its own. I liked that. I enjoy letting the materials I’m working with dictate the direction. So, the sags and oozes gave the work a distinctive look. I embellished the surface with various openings and texture. Also, the uncontrolled changes that took place in the kiln added character. I mended cracks with irregular balls of silver solder, and added washes of paint to enhance areas of the surface where the glazing or reduction-color was less than I wanted.
This piece – at about 60 inches high and 42 inches at its widest point – is the largest of these sculptures that I made.
I was still awake last night when your post rolled in.. I thought, “Thursday? Is this Thursday?” The week slipped by b/c I’ve had a stomach virus, not fun, and slept thru several days (a blessing!)
By George, with the help of my friend’s photos, I’ll be able to do a Timeout post later today!
I wish I were there to watch how you make these! Thanks as always for holding the Timeout torch even when my own went dark!
It’s so organic, and I’m wondering.. how much does it weigh? It would make a very unique accent lamp – I can picture it hanging in a strategic spot….
It was easily a hundred pounds, Lisa. We rolled it over the scale before I was completely dry, and – with the wheeled cart – was almost two hundred fifty. This one was purchased by Claudia Schmidt, the folk singer. It stood outside of her restaurant for several years. I don’t know where it is now.
W0w! What great trivia! 250 while still in the drying stage! How fun it must have been to watch those ‘life forms’ be transported to their rightful homes! Thank you for sharing that info!
These sculptures you make remind me of something alien, like, from a different planet. You are indeed an artist. Cool stuff!
Thanks so much, Sara!