New Work, "Ingenuity", 2015

My time is usually spent working on sculptural pieces, but for last four months it seems all I have been working on most of the time is wheel thrown work.  I finally took time away from the wheel to get back to my first love…sculpture!

This piece, "Ingenuity", is a sculpture that I had been working on for a short time.  It took me seventeen hours to create this piece, minus the multiple firings I put it through and the build up of multiple glazes. The piece is hand built with press mold additions, and is made from earthenware clay.  It is hollow and was built "life size".

With my exploration into the "object/artifact", I came upon an old 1921 gasoline welder, that my dad had found up in his attic above the garage.  I instantly fell in love with the piece and found it to be perfect to try and create with clay.  I used slabs, coil, and the pinch pot method to create this piece.

The piece was fired to cone 05 bisque and then I used glazes that I created in graduate school, at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.  I hadn't had an opportunity to use the glazes, beyond test tiles, and was happy to finally find a piece that I thought the glazes would compliment.

The glazes are low fire as well, cone 06, and really help to make the piece look like the real thing, only with more rust and decay.

Pictured below are pictures of the piece in different stages of the making process.  Enjoy.

Raku Lidded Vessel

I have been working on multiple pieces in the studio and thought I would post an update on a particular piece of work.  I made a wheel thrown vessel with a lid, out of stoneware clay, and fired it in a Raku kiln with Raku glazes I made up at IPFW.

I fired the piece a couple of weeks ago, but finally got around to photographing it.  Hope you enjoy the work.

Ceramic Cup off to California!

Tomorrow I will be sending off this cup for the upcoming invitational show out at Sacramento City College, in Sacramento, California.  The dates for the show are:  November 17- December 8, 2015, at the Kondos Gallery on the campus of Sacramento City College.  If you are in the area you should check it out.  Unfortunately due to the classes I am teaching this semester, I won't be able to attend the opening, but it should be a great exhibit.  The cup was fired to cone six, with multiple firings below the maximum temperature.  The cup is created with food safe glaze lined in the interior and around the rim.  The exterior of the cup below the rim is not food safe and are sculptural glazes.  

KACA Material Mastery Exhibition-2015

I just wanted to let everyone know that I will have some work being displayed at the Kansas Artist Craftsmen Association National Juried Exhibition, Material Mastery, in Wichita, Kansas.  The exhibit was juried by Margaret Bohls.  The exhibit runs from November 2-November 7.   The Exhibition takes place at the Grisham Marilyn Fiber Studio, in Wichita, Kansas.

Pictured below are the pieces being exhibited.

 

Remnant, Terra Cotta, Glazes, Enamel Paints, 2014.

Manual Labor, Terra Cotta, Steel, Wood, Plastic, Glazes, and Enamel Paints, 2011.

More Ceramic Cups?

I have been working on some ceramic cups for an upcoming exhibition, as well as for some gifts for the holidays.  The cups are all thrown on the wheel, using stoneware clay, and will be fired to cone 6, in an electric kiln.  I have been working on some new glazes, since the work I am creating needs to be functional, and have had some interesting results with some of the glazes.  I am still doing more tests and hopefully will have some results to post shortly of the finished work.  

Below are some images of the cups in progress.

Slip Casting with a new mold

Pictured below are images of slip casting underway.  I created two press molds and then created two slip cast molds of the designed tile work.  I also made the thickness of the tiles thicker to create a more visually interesting design when placed on the wall.

I will post more images of this work as it comes along.  Unfortunately the first tile is sticking in an area of the mold that I will have to clean up a bit more, for easier removal of the cast tile.

Finished Wall Piece-"Mechanical Repetition, 2015"

I finished my new ceramic wall piece and titled it "Mechanical Repetition".  It is made of Terra Cotta and a cone 6 black bronze glaze.  This piece took awhile to make due to the number of pieces I had to make and fit together.  Pictured below is the piece hanging on the wall.

Raku Cup

In my Ceramics for Non-Majors Class, I fired the Raku Kiln three times last Saturday with student work and one piece of my own.  Pictured below is a Stoneware, wheel thrown cup that I glazed with a copper sand and white crackle Raku glazes.  The process of pulling out work when it is extremely hot, never gets boring and always has some sense of magic in the end results.  The class was really excited about the results and some not so nice results, but the experience was still amazing!  The really dark black areas were created by not applying any glaze to the clay body and using the reduction process in the combustion barrel to create the effect.

Cups in Progress

Those of you who know me, know that it is very rarely that I dedicate time to creating pottery.  Recently that seems all I have been working on.  I still have other work in progress at various stages, but thought I would share some images of the forms I have been exploring as well as the design and feel of handles on the work.  I will post more images of the finished work once it is finished.

Ceramic Tile (Wall Piece)

I have been revisiting ceramic tile and design with this new piece.  I forgot how fun it is…and time consuming to put a piece like this together, but I really enjoyed the time spent on this piece.  The work is of a new design and I used two different molds that I created to make this piece work.  I used Terra Cotta and hand pressed all the pieces.  I then used my black bronze glaze and fired the work to cone 6, after I did an initial bisque firing first.  The work was then applied to a piece of plywood.  I dry fitted together the pieces after the glaze firing, so I could trace out the exterior of the form and then cut the wood using a table saw and a hand held jigsaw to mimic the edges of the tiles to be placed.

The piece measures 30" x 38" x 1 1/2", and is held to the wall using french cleats, which I made as well.  All the wood was sanded by hand and then I painted the edges and the cleats, using a black satin latex paint.

The piece is currently on display, so I don't have a final picture to show the work, so I will try to get a final photo after the show comes down.

Enjoy!

Some New Wall Work

I've been working on some new work and have multiple pieces being constructed at the moment in different stages…it's finally summer!

Pictured are three new wall pieces I put together recently, revisiting my tile work and incorporating some slip cast work.  I played around with glazes and surfaces, but stayed true to the form and idea.

I'll be posting some work in progress tomorrow.  I'm glazing tiles for a new wall piece and have to get them into the kiln tonight before I go to bed.  Enjoy.

Hand Building with Molds

I have been busy with work, but in my studio I'm creating new molds for new work, along with creating new sculptures.  I had a bunch of stoneware clay, so I thought I would create some sculptures with it.  The images posted are of some things happening in my studio.  Enjoy.

I will update the progress of this work as it is created.  Pictured are five different pieces being worked on at the same time.