Amalgamation

I am done!! Yay! Here are some pic of the final installation piece. I could not be happier with the way it turned out, especially with the opening of the show. There were soooo many people I love there supporting me and my fellow ladies. The night is kind of a blur of people, music, and hunger (I didn't even get any sushi!). We working working until the last minute and it went off without a hitch. Everyone was so supportive, it was a wonderful way for me to end my IP journey.

It was a rough week before building the walls, transporting, and setting up all of my work. We essentially renovated the yellow barn, which was quite a task. Thanks to Jan and help from many of our friends and family memebers we were able to create a beautiful space that showcased each of our work perfectly.

I am very happy with the composition of my pieces, especially with the mulch surrounding them. The mulch really helped the organism come alive. It was so awesome to see people interacting, touching and talking witht the pieces. I must say that hearing people talk about your work in a positive manner for an extended period of time feels great.

I'm really happy with the way the surfaces turned out. They didn't turn out how I thought they were going to but I'm satisfied with what I got. There were some issues with the M and M glaze (textural glaze) but I kind of like the mishap. The bumbs make the organisms look as if they have an infectious disease growing on its skin...

Anyways it was an amazing night. Thanks so much to everyonw who helped with the show, as well as supporting me ovee the past year!



oh yeah and for those of you who care, the Jazz band was playing Dilla all night and it was so cool, I melted :)

Fleshy Flesh

IP panic crazy time- a week in a half left to work.... hopefully i can finish in time, we'll see. I am feeling better about my surfaces ( only because I don't know how to glaze and messed one of the kilns up so I decided to try using a non glaze material). I have been experimenting with conte crayon on a bisqued surface with a layer of parafin wax rubbed on top. It creates this fleshy, worn, organic surface that I love. I've also been using the crayon and wax on top of samples that I've already applied textured and satin matte glazes. The pieces that have lichen or M and M glazes already look great with the conte and waz over it. I think the textures and Jackie's base with 5% Rutile with act as an element of diversity within the creatures. As for now I really need to start organizing my piees orientations for the installation because I think that will really determine how I glaze each individual piece.

Ok so just had a meeting with Janie, Seth and Amanda- it's time to glaze one of the pieces and see what happens:)

And so the firing begins....

Yes that's right people, I started firing my pieces (specifically the biggest ones in the Nordore kiln, its seven feet tall). We started the bisque on Thursday and will shut it off on Saturday and I should be able to open the kiln on Monday morning. I am excited and terrified at the same time, I feel like I constantly have this worried look on my face haha.

I'm drying out the rest of my pieces and will be loading them in the Blaauw kiln the next week and run another bisque, that way I'll have all but one piece fired and ready to glaze. The piece I am still working on is the one that goes into the ground then goes into the wall scales upward. That piece I will finish this weekend and begin drying out.

As fore my surfaces! I fired some sames and came out with some good results and now have a refined direction. I am posting images of the sample I like the best (Amanda and Erica also gave me some really helpful feed back on them). I want to use multiple glazes on the same piece. Each piece will have some sort of unifying surface but I want the color and textures placement to vary on each of them. Amanda suggested some good ways of approaching my glazes looking to growth patterns of different organisms....also looking at bioaccumulation and where that forms. Overall I feel good about where I'm at and how much I have left to do.

I've been thinking about the installation and how it will look/be arranged and was thinking that I may want to put some sort of dirt or mulch on the ground under the pieces. I think it would drive home the idea of them as organisms. I know that dirt is associated with plants, but I like that idea that they'd be growing out of the ground (especially with the one going into the ground then reappearing)..... what do you guys think?? The floor on the yellow barn is hard wood, although not very nice, kind of degraded.

That's all for now. I LOVE NICE WEATHER IN MICHIGAN, its about time. Oh yeah fuck Rick Snyder.

I'm in Turkey? You're in Turkey

Oh if I was in Turkey...
This week in IP I worked on the second draft of my thesis, started my second round of surface experiments and continued my building.

For my thesis, I basically rewrote the entire paper. My first draft was a piece of crap, I really had no idea what I was trying to say. I am much happier with this second draft, although I still have a lot of work to put in it, as well as a page or two about my surfaces and installation (once I figure them out).

As for the building, I'm still working on the piece that goes into the ground, reappears, then goes into the wall. I'm really excited about this piece because it's actually using the space it exists in, making it more of an installation piece and not just a series of arranged sculptures. I'm also working on a fragmented piece.. but after today's critique I don't know if I have enough time to do that, finish the wall piece and figure my surfaces out and fire and glaze everything in two weeks. I'm stressed to say the least.

As for my surfaces, I've gotten some good testing done. I'm working with washes, terra sigs, and some textural glazes. I've made a large batch of Jackie's Base (a low fire semigloss matte glaze that produces little speckles) and added different oxides and colorants to it. I'm also experimenting with how I apply the glazes, instead of simply apply the glaze with a brush or spray, I'm wiping them off as if they were a wash. We'll see how everything goes...

As for now, I need to go to sleep but unfortunately these a ton of people over at my house partying and all i want to do is sleep because I have class all day tomorrow like a real person.

Prom Parti.

The Beats

Hello friends. This week was not very productive for me. Between studying for midterms and getting some weird food poisoning I didn't get very much done. I did have a very good conversation with Erica on Tuesday though which is creating a good context for me to really determine what my subject matter is really about. She posed the question of -what kind of environments would my organisms live in, and would they blend in? This is a simple question, but that could really hep me determine what I'm going for.

I went to the library and looked through a ton of ceramic magazines for inspiration and to really just get an idea for what the possibilities are for my surfaces. I am mostly attracted to the rock-like surface texture seen a little here with artist Liang Jia Huar... I will find a better example and post it.
I'm in the process of making a ton of surface samples since my texture has been decided, and I plan on testing them over break. Speaking of break, I'm really excited because I'm staying in Ann Arbor for the week.

DPS

Today (Thursday night) I encountered my first DPS officer in the art building, specifically the ceramics room. I didn't expect him and was very awkward. He was kind of good looking hah.

Anyways, This week in IP I made mucho progress. I finished the wet work on two of my pieces (shown throughout). One of the piece is medium sized and is intended to help create a transition throughout all of my work. (Pieces from skinny to fat). I wanted the singular orifice to look as if it were whimpering, or sucking. I also created a muscle texture that protrudes from the top and side of the neck.. hopefully giving it a little more individual character.

The other piece shown here buds three separate times. First it buds into two segments, then I split one of the sections a second time. I think this creature is hilarious. From far away it is such an awkward, lumpy, transforming organism. Janie siad she thought that two of the tentacle like structures looked like someones legs spread open. I LOVE that. This guy seems to be evoking many different emotions, gestures, and organisms.


This week I've also begun to do some wax surface experiments... here are the images for that. I'm not loving the blond color (when it's thick) so I'm thinking about adding some brown/orchre oxides to the wax and seeing what happens. As of right now the wax is over washes that I've previously laid down. I am liking the surface when there are more washes (darker) underneath. I also like the very THIN layer of wax over small amounts of washes. Hopefully by putting oxides in the wax I can make a bumpy texture that isn't obnoxiously blond (the original color of the beeswax). It smells great byt the way.








I also am showing the image that's on my postcard. (Black background)

This weekend I look to continue working on my creature that's going into the ground, in addition to working more of the wax surfaces. I guess my questions pertain to the surfaces. Are you liking what you're seeing? I think it's hard to tell from these images what they would look like on an entire piece... but lemme know. I think I'm going to also begin making some sculptures that are fragmented pieces (janie's idea)--- emulating fragmentation... or loss... idk

Hope everyone's enjoying this fabulous weather:)

Last week of teaching the little 2 year old buggers (thank god)

ps sorry the formatting is so wack- I cannot figure out how to make it look nice

Dilla Week

This week in IP studio... and every other waking moment I was in the ceramic studio working and listening to J Dilla. Dilla is my musical idol (who died in Feb 2006) and since February is the month of his birth and death it is essential that I listen to him at all times. I finally feel my momentum coming back..... I'm in the studio for around 8 hours a day and it feels great. I made 200 pounds of clay this week, finished two almost three pieces and started three more. I put my next largest piece (the budding one) in the kiln today along with my super little and fat one (see image) with no major issues. Now they will dry out for about a week to two and then I'll fire them!

I've moved on to doing some smaller and skinner pieces. I'm trying to help create a transition between my smaller and larger segment sizes. I want them to all make sense when they're together. As for my surfaces, I have a test piece (with washes) in the kiln currently and should be ready for me on Saturday morning. I've also been talking with John about using beeswax on my work. He's given me the number of a local guy who I'm going to call tomorrow and see if he has any in stock. If not I might be able to buy some from Johns stash. There are many wonderful qualities about the beeswax that could really add to my work. 1. It smells GREAT. I think having another sensory experience besides visual could add just the right touch to my 'living' organisms. 2. It can create a really great bumpy texture or just the opposite, smooth and shinny. 3. I can use the yellowish natural color or add oxides and change it to black, red, or whatever. Basically beeswax has a lot of avenues to explore. I'm think that I'll use it over the washes (it'll be transparent I think)... we'll see.

I'm having some fun with my new skinny-er pieces and the forms. With one I have it budding three times... I might even create a piece in the process of fragmentation (breaking off from the parent). I s I'm starting to see my pieces and they're sizes either as different generations... each having one, or many ways of functioning.. still trying to make sense of all of these guys.

I have one piece that I'm in the process of building into the ground. I've been thinking a lot about how I'm going to handle the piece utilizing the ground... Amanda mentioned that it's a great opportunity for the viewer to discover something new about the organism (no ones else is going into the ground). I'm not sure how to approach it yet, I'm thinking about having some form jut out (as if a bone was dislocated) in order for it to bend over.

The third guy I'm working on is nice and simple, he is mid sized, sleek, and extending his head and neck to look backwards. I'm excited for this one because it is looking more akin to my first smaller pieces and helping the transition of size along.

Maybe a new texture for the middle guys? or maybe a variation of what I have so far? What do you think? I wan them to be apart of the same family, but variation is good for many reasons.

Ok, so that's what I got. I'm ready for the weekend to work and relax, can't believe it's almost break (aka my birthday hah). WAhhhhh


RIP Dilla