Supersize: Bigger is Better? @ Annmarie Sculpture Garden and Arts Center

"Excess", slip-cast porcelain, wood, straw, 2010

I recently found out that a new piece of mine was accepted into a national exhibition at the Annmarie Sculpture Garden and Arts Center, In association with the Smithsonian Institution, in Solomons, Maryland.  The exhibition, "Supersize:  Bigger is Better?", is an all media exhibition with works to be displayed both indoors and outdoors this summer.  The Jurors for the exhibition this year were Nancy Davis, Curator, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution and James F. Langley, Curator of Exhibitions, Calvert Marine Museum. Pictured is the piece that was accepted into the show;  "Excess".  The show runs from June 10-August 21, 2011. Posted here is a link to Annmarie Sculpture Garden and Arts Center for further information http://www.annmariegarden.org/annmarie2/node/581 , or this link will take you to the main page of the Annmarie Sculpture Garden and Arts Center.   http://www.annmariegarden.org/

88th Annual Spring Show at the Erie Art Museum

Travis Winters, graduate student in ceramics, enjoying some conversation during the opening.

Bronze sculpture by Jason Thompson, graduate student in the sculpture department at Edinboro.

This is the piece of mine that sold;  "Genetic Manipulation"

I thought this was a pretty cool piece at the show.  

I really enjoyed the use of mixed media in this piece.

Patron (artist?), Eric Thayer (exhibiting artist), and Mike Angelotti, viewing Mike's installation.

Ceramic work by Gratia Brown, graduate student in ceramics at Edinboro.

One of my pieces in the show, "Lost".

Last weekend was the opening of the 88th Spring Show at the Erie Art Museum.  The Juror this year was Mark Newport, who is the resident artist at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Fibers.  There was a good number of artists representing Edinboro University at the show, in a number of different media.   I entered the show and was fortunate enough to have two pieces chosen for the show.  I ended up selling one of the pieces at the opening and felt the show had a really good variety of work.  If you get a chance to stop by the Erie Art Museum, it will definitely be worth it.  The show runs from April 16-June 26, 2011.  The press release is listed at this site if anyone is interested.  http://www.pr.com/press-release/311949

Slip-casting under way

I've been working on slip-casting the parts and then assembling them together to create the larger forms and have definitely been able to tell a difference between the weight of the two processes.   I've decided to show the thickness of the walls of the forms that I am creating so the viewer may be able to get a perception of what I am talking about.  I also decided to include some photos showing how I set up the different molds needed during this casting.

Investigating surface through similar forms

I know I've been working on molds, but that's not the only thing on the list of many things that still needs to be done.  Here is a picture of a form that I've created, and how I have approached the surface with one of my repetitious designs.  I decided to carve in low-relief using modeling tools by hand.  It's not done yet, but you can see the difference already.

Making molds

I've been busy finishing up some molds I still need, so I thought I would post some pictures of the work. I also checked out my casting slip and made sure the specific gravity is in range.  It is, so I poured some in some of my molds to see if there were any problematic areas I needed to address before I begin slip casting with the molds.  Looks like I'll have to do some sanding tomorrow.  I'll post some pictures of the parts when I cast them and the end result of joining the parts together to make the form I need in the next couple of days.