Something New, Something Blue

You Brought It on Yourself, Stoneware, mason stain, wax, yarn, approximately 8 inches


Untitled (Sartre abstract), Stoneware, glaze, approximately 8 inches


What Made You So Sick?, Stoneware, glaze, mason stain, wax, crochet thread, approximately 6 inches


Diversity at MICA, Stoneware, mason stain, wax, artificial sinew, approximately 8 inches


Nuff, Stoneware, mason stain, wax, yarn, approximately 8 inches


My First Anxiety Attack, Stoneware, glaze, wax, yarn, approximately 6 inches

These little objects are a whole lot of new for me. New scale, new materials, new techniques, new surfaces, new concepts. They are all made from slip-cast vessels, which I obviously altered. I specifically experimented with wax on the surfaces and fibers. The only thing that stayed the same is my ultimate connection to the body and gesture. If you refer to my previous post about Kathy Butterly, you'll recall my discontent with the products from the first half of the semester. These were my attempt to branch out and jump start my artist's block. Some of it was successful, some of it wasn't. Overall, I'm glad I did them. I don't know where they are headed, or if they even will get past this, but it is what it is, and I learned a lot. That's the point of all this, right?

Last (Wo)Man Standing

Aaand here is the promised post (well, series of spots) of semester artwork.
*heralding trumpets*
This is all a little overdue, but life has been happening in a whirlwind these days, and it's been all I can do to keep up.


These photos are from our final pose in figure sculpture. We began what was meant to be a four day pose with a female model. She was sick the second day, so we just worked on what we could. Then she failed to show up on the third day, so they so considerately sent us a male model. So this is my final figure sculpture; let's forget about gender titles.







I hated it. There was a lot wrong with it. Switching genders and making it look how you want is a tough thing to do. I think that was the first time I've ever managed to sculpt all ten digits in a figure sculpture class. I never felt there was enough time to finish a sculpture in two days. I

Take a Stand

I have been long overdue in posting. I have some ceramic pieces done, but due to a show and a busy semester I have yet to photograph them. Images are indeed coming though! I figured(haha) in the mean time, some of my work from my figure sculpture class might be entertaining to your eyes.

I called her Madeline.




This is Yale. You MICAns know and love him.




Just a brief update: My ceramic work has taken a shift. In an effort to isolate the gesture, I have moved to abstraction, altering cast vessels to create references to dynamic movements of the body. I will be adding fibers elements to these.
As for my figures, I've been fighting a losing battle with them this semester, but I ain't no quitter. I have one more in the works.

"We call it a happy accident. I call it a technique." -k.b.

Ceramicist Kathy Butterly couldn't have come to MICA at a better time. This charming New york artist creates small scale sculpture with poreclain and commercial glazes. Beginning with the traditional form of a cast vessel, she alters the wet clay, bending and bulging it into abstract forms. Her vessels/forms are somewhat whimsical, often body-like, and luciously glazed. Though abstract, these little objects posess a true sense of life.

According to Butterly taking your time is the most luxurious thing one can do, so she takes her time adding intricate detail and texture in smart, sensitive ways. These forms are generally autobiographical, and have recently been political. One of the most fascinating things about Butterly's process is the tension between intentional and realized. Her scupltures appear very intentional through the careful detail and the high quality of finish. However, the form is intuitive and the meaning comes to her in a child-like manner. I use child-like not to be negative or condescending, but in that wonderful free sense of simply creating.

As she works, Butterly is influenced by her life and the world around her, realizing the meaning behind the work as she goes or after she is done. Although, it is not important to her that people realize the meaning, her little forms are what they are. Each object is within its own reality, which perhaps is the one of the most enchanting thing about them.

I had the privilege to speak with Butterly after her slide lecture. She is honest and insightful about her art and life. She also offered genuine advice freely.

Here's a small sampling of her work:

Yo.
Stuck in the Mud.
She Dynasty
Mask.
Flash.
Caught thinking.

The time couldn't have been better for me. I've been working intensely on my figures. Chasing some idea, I don't know what it is, but I haven't managed a process or product that deeply resonates with me and my ideas. So I've been toying with the idea of working less representationally and steering towards the abstract.

Butterly creates in a way so differently from my planned, researched figures. Her sculptures are alive caught in moments of their own. I could learn something.

She also talked about how she got her start by copying her heroine, and how it can take sometime to find an artist and process that strikes the right chord with you and your ideas. Butterly listened to my ideas, and essentially gave me permission to make the leap from my figures to abstract forms and to make bad and/or vulgar work. I know it might sound immature or ridiculously reliant on others opinions, but sometimes we inhibit ourselves and need the weight of an outside opinion to shake us up and encourage us. Maybe I can make this my kick in the pants.

I'm not sure I'm quite ready to abondon my figures yet. I don't feel like they are totally exhausted. However, I do feel I should get started on something different. Guess we'll have to see what I do.

Busted

I haven't posted in a while, but I will have some greenware photos by the end of the week. My current project is half life-sized (or nearly half life-sized) figures. They put a feminist spin on Sartre's theory of "bad faith."

Until those photos are posted, however, here's a look at what we've been doing in my Intermediate/Advanced Figure Sculpture class.

Go figure

This is the second ceramic body of work from this semester. Here are two pieces from my class on ceramic surface treatments and that were posted previously in their green states.



B-mix, white slip, shop clear glaze, decals, and twine




B-mix, black underglaze, white terra sigillata, pearl luster

I tried a couple different techniques with these, which gave me the desired results and have appropriate metaphors for the work.
I haven't found a surface language which I really desire to continue using, and I'm thinking that maybe my language isn't in the surfaces but the forms and objects. I do have ideas for surfaces lined up for this semester which I'm pretty excited to try.

Sexy Objects

Here are the finished products from this semester. I have two ceramic bodies of work to show. This first one is a selection of my porcelain objects based off commercial products. They are decorated with a clear glaze and then mason stains, china paints, decals, and lusters.