Process

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sweet dreams

December 31, 2011 in art, life | 5 comments

 

~French Butter Dishes by Keith Phillips

 

In the Seinfeld episode, “The Heart Attack” (season 2, episode 8), Jerry goes to bed after watching a science fiction B-movie, only to wake up in the middle of the night laughing.  He then writes down the joke for his stand-up routine.  The next day, he can’t read what he wrote down.*

This episode reminds me of when I was first learning to throw and work with clay.  I would practice; struggling for hours in the studio to learn the skills I needed to be proficient with the tools and materials.  Our professor, John Arnold, would watch us work and then ask, “Are you dreaming about clay, yet?”  His proceeding comments suggested that once the ceramic process invaded our dreams, we’d find our inspiration; follow through with our creative ideas; progress.

I’m not sure how much follow-through I was willing to apply back then, but lately I’ve been dreaming about clay.  However, I feel the need to qualify my subconscious efforts in part because I’ve been away from the studio and perhaps a little drug induced.

My absence wasn’t completely unplanned…well, it was hoped for.  But, not for this long.  Short.  Minimal time away was the thought.  Nothing is as we wish it would be.

A few days after final grades were posted, I was scheduled to have minor surgery on my arm.  Emphasis on the minor.  It was outpatient.  The doctor said no lifting for a week.  I can do that.

By the evening of my surgical encounter, my body began to betray me with a reaction to the anesthesia.  Nothing serious – though increasingly uncomfortable as I approached my follow-up appointment four days away.  After seeing the doc, with a prescription in hand, I felt like everything was under control.  We were headed to see family for a few days.  I’ll be good to go as soon as we return.  Ah…”the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”**

By Christmas Eve (with one day left on my Rx) the annoying reaction had become more than exasperating.  Harassing me day and night. (ugh!)

Four days later, I found myself in the doctor’s office with the telling signs of an oncoming cold and the ever growing Andromeda Strain that occupied my every thought. (please, just make it go away!)  Two weeks since surgery…another round of meds…AND my head is now heavy with snot.  I guess I won’t be hitting the ground running.

Nonetheless, my fitful sleep brought on dreams of clay.  Butter dishes to be exact. (very odd)  There are a number of potters who make butter dishes.  But, since most people buy a butter-like substitute that comes in a handy plastic tub; butter dishes seem part of a bygone era when folks actually used a table clothe, place settings consisted of more than a plate with a matching mug, and napkins were placed on one’s lap when dining.

There are numerous creative designs for the forgotten butter dish.  We have the French butter dish (see examples at the beginning of this post).
How it works: (just a bit high maintenance…it’s French)

~French Butter Dish

 

~Butter Dish by Cindy Gilliland

The thrown circular butter dish.  Hmmm…often these pieces are also referred to as a butter dish/garlic roaster.  (perhaps, because butter is generally of a different geometric form)

~Butter Dish by Liz Zlot Summerfield

The more practical brick shaped butter dish takes a bit more creative energy.  This is where my dreams took me…though, I’m not sure how much follow-through I’m willing to apply.

 

 

Go here to see Keith Phillips create the Classic American Butter Dish!

 

 

 

 

*The episode ends when Jerry remembers what he wrote down – a line from the movie he had been watching.  It’s then he realizes it isn’t funny.
**To a Mouse, on Turning Her Up in the Nest with the Plough, Robert Burns, 1785.

 

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I spy with my little eye…

December 2, 2011 in art, teaching | 2 comments

I worked frantically heading into Thanksgiving so I could get a bit of inventory delivered the week before the holiday.  Now, as the semester winds down, I find myself in a strange lull at the studio.  It’s not that I don’t have work to do, I just don’t have the days (consecutive days) available to see the process through.  I’ll likely get new work made in the next couple of weeks, leaving it to dry over Christmas.

So then, in the absence of a hectic studio schedule, I’ve been tweaking and rewriting my Spring semester Sculpture class.  Over the years that I’ve taught Three-Dimensional Design and now Sculpture, I’ve observed students struggle to visualize their ideas beyond the two-dimensional plane.

“If I can draw it, why can’t I sculpt it?”

I believe visualization begins with seeing (go ahead and laugh a little at that sentence…read it again if you must).  Perception.  We miss a lot because we process quick visual cues and then just fill in the blanks.  Our ‘filling in’ isn’t always accurate and often void of details.  We create a good, general image in our head and can probably provide an adequate description.  However, if we really (really) saw, we’d be amazed at what we gloss over.

While searching for some inspiration, I read an article about jump starting the creative process.  Several artists were asked what they do when they need a creative push.  One artist suggested choosing a color and then taking photos of that color in any shape, shade or texture.

I thought this might be fun to try, so I grabbed my point-and-shoot to record the color red for the next half hour.

When I looked at my images I immediately noticed that I kept to a fairly narrow value range (no pinks here).  I can see how this exercise could be expanded (hmmm…thinking, thinking).  Just allowing time to thoroughly seek out a color would begin to push students.  In fact, well after my allotted half hour of searching for red, I caught myself being drawn to the color; accompanied by a mental note that I’d seen it (Where’s Waldo run amok!).  This exercise sparked a renewed awareness of color, surface, texture and even shape.

An exercise in perception that I find myself returning to is creating line drawings (a collection, actually) in my sketchbook for the surfaces of functional work.  These drawings help me see form.  The simple visual cues on the two-dimensional plane suggest spacial relationships as well as speak to the form of the clay.

~sketch for 'Forgive Me for Believing I'm Immune'

The line drawings are an abridged version of the images I draw on paper (really lousy paper) for my drawings on clay.  I develop a detailed image on paper – far more detail than I will ever be able to translate onto the ceramic surface.  This might seem like a waste of time and energy; creating such finished sketches.  But, they help me to really (really) see.  Develop my perception.  Jump start the creative process.

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This is how the work gets done…

August 12, 2011 in art | 3 comments

My recently purchased 50mm (f/1/8) camera lens arrived last week.  A 28-135mm lens is my standard when taking images of work.  It gives me flexibility with the ability to shoot sharp details throughout the entire range.

The new lens is far less flexible; with a fixed focal length, it has a relatively short depth of field.  But, my thinking was that it would provide excellent images of larger work where actual viewing distance won’t allow the 28-135mm lens to capture the entire piece (yeah, I tell myself that all the time, “I should work smaller.”).

So then, I set up a little exercise to record my glaze process as a way to see what the lens would do (in spite of my incompetency).  I learned several things during my self-imposed drill.  Two of the most notable:

1. Don’t rely on the auto focus (AF).  I employed the AF and timer for most of the shots because my hands were otherwise occupied with glazing.

2. As if I hadn’t already realized, this exercise amplified the fact that my glaze process is tedious.

Apply a fairly thin layer of slip* over the drawn area.

 

 

 

 

 

With a sponge and water, wipe back the slip; leaving the color in the recesses of the drawing.

 

 

 

 

Cleaned up drawn image on bisque.

 

A quick dip over the drawn area in a glossy clear glaze.  Thin application.
(AF frustration!)

 

 

 

 

When the glaze can be handled without marring the newly applied glaze, dry foot (remove glaze) the bottom.  I also clean the clear glaze from the interior foot ring so I can apply a color glaze in there later in the process.

 

 

 

Carefully clean off the clear glaze with a sponge from all areas that will be glazed with a color later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wax to cover only the areas glazed with the clear glaze.

 

 

 

 

Go to lunch!
Need to wait at least two hours for the wax to set up.  Though, in the Arizona heat, it’s still a bit soft after two hours.  However, allowing for much more time would dry the moisture in the bisqueware; creating a whole new set of problems.

 

Dip the piece in the second, color glaze.  Quickly sponge any residual glaze off the waxed areas.

 

 

 

 

 

Dry foot (again).  This time, leave the glaze in the foot ring.

 

 

 

 

 

Lastly, clean up the edge of the color glaze where it meets the waxed area.

 

 

 

 

Ready to be loaded into the kiln!

*For all the purists out there: I use the terms ‘slip’ and ‘engobe’ interchangeably (The stuff in my throwing bucket…that would be slurry).

Mistaké Slip ^5-6  (pronounced: mis-tock-ee)
Yes, that actually says ‘mistake’.  The urban legend is that a grad student was trying to develop a stoney glaze and mistakenly created this slip.  The revised pronunciation was an attempt to provide some legitimacy and confuse the undergraduates.

EPK or Grolleg 50

Custer  25

Flint     25

add: Macaloid  3

~for mid-range (^1-4), substitute Nepheline Syenite for Custer.

This slip is compatible on bisque (for most clay bodies…test, test, test) when applied thinly.

This Is How the Work Gets Done, Charlie Peacock.

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life markers

June 2, 2011 in art, life | 2 comments

Lately I’ve been thinking about life markers.  Not milestones so much, but life markers.  Milestones seem to imply happy ‘firsts’, like a child’s first steps, a first kiss, or a first job.  It’s a reference mark of completion; signifying distance traveled in a general forward direction.  Accomplishing a task that leads to the next logical step.  Children walk, then run, then they ask for the keys to the car.  Milestones.

~sketch detail

However, life markers don’t always seem the result of a happy first; not always moving forward.  Sometimes they make me sit still (if just for a little while), maybe even turn away.  Perhaps semantics.  But, that’s sort of how things roll around in my head.

Visually, I see milestones marked with a gold star, an endearing awkward photo, a framed dollar bill.  Whereas a life marker might be denoted by a wrestling of wills, vulnerable prayer and petition, revelation.  One might lead to the other – a first job develops character and independence.  They sometimes cross each other – the accomplishment of graduation and the beginning of a new reality.  Despite the fuzzy edges, they feel so very different.

As this semester was coming to an end, I was fielding a lot of student questions.

  • What next?
  • What do I do with this passion?
  • Where do we go from here?

Common queries as students begin to look ahead.  The questions, answers, and discussions brought me back to a languishing photo I had taken for a drawing.  The image is one of struggle and determination; an altar.  A marker as a reminder that God has revealed Himself  – at this time, in this place, for His purpose.

Once classes were finished, I started a bit of research and began a little ear bending (thanks, Monica). The dialogue continues as I consider those times in my life that have brought about a transformed vision; revelation.  The tumbling of the idea of life markers is distracting, sometimes painful.  The struggle is part of the process.  Apropos.

In the works!

The Cap, Cup, and Mug Sale, Show and Trade
October 7 and 8, 2011

~ a sale of cups and mugs from 30 artists (and counting) from around the valley.
~ the collecting of knit hats and socks for Set Free Ministries.
~ more specifics will be available as we get closer to the event.

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sunny days

July 26, 2010 in art, life | 2 comments

Every summer needs a song…Sunny Days by Jars of Clay.

A week or so ago we experienced our warmest (now there’s an understatement) day on record for the year.  At 6:30 that evening the digital thermometer read 124°F.  We figured the sun was hitting the sensor.  Sure enough, a few minutes later when the shade covered the sensor, the temp took a dramatic dive to 117°F.

In honor or maybe in spite of the occasion, I loaded the kiln to begin creating a little thermal momentum for firing the next day – which, by the way was another scorcher with a little humidity from the monsoon that has yet to truly materialize.

In general, I don’t do a lot of firing in the summers.  My vented kiln is in the studio.  The kiln generates enough radiant heat once it reaches bright orange heat that working in the studio gets a little uncomfortable.

Still, working in the heat isn’t reason enough to avoid firing in the summers.  Really, it’s the feeling that I need to run the air conditioner while the kiln is on so I don’t set off the fire sprinklers.  This is my fear.  I can see it all in my mind…disastrous!  When we began building out this studio, someone relayed a story to me about one of those ‘paint-your-ceramics’ places.  They had loaded the kilns and set them to fire overnight, to be finished and cooling the next day.  Apparently the heat set off the sprinklers and well…disastrous!  Thus, my fear was born.

I’ve been assured that the vented kiln wouldn’t set off the sprinklers.  Really? How do I test that?  Nope.  I turn on the air conditioner with the auxiliary fan – the auxiliary is really just to feed air into the studio because the kiln vent pulls air into and through the kiln, then vents it to the outside.  In addition, I turn on a standing oscillating fan just to keep the air moving.  I realize this is probably over-kill.  But, I haven’t had a heat related incident.

However, all that pushing, pulling and cooling of air raises the cost of firing.  I’m a bit frugal.  Whether out of necessity, habit or desire, I cringe at the added cost of running the air.  Not an “I’m losing profits” sort of cringe – more like, “this is going to be an outrageous electric bill” kind of cringe.

If I have to fire, I try to pack the kiln as tight as possible without compromising the balance of the process to produce quality work.  Still, as deadlines near, I don’t always have much choice if I intend to continue to work with retail outlets and private commissions.  As I look at the next tentatively scheduled firing…hmmm, it’ll still be hot here.

fig.2-7
Update: after additional tests and then a leap of faith, I found one more unexpected materials issue.  This one is an easy fix – just caught me off guard after I thought everything was cooperating.  Lost about 2/3rds of my last load.  Lessons learned.

praying for inspiration
Update: still praying for continued inspiration.  I’ve made progress with my vision and message for the upcoming show.  Still, there’s much more to accomplish.

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