Turkey Break

Thanksgiving break was wonderful. Lots of food, family, rest, and as much work as I could handle. I took Wednesday and Thursday off to recuperate and have been working since. This week/weekend I spent my time mostly in the ceramics studio. I slowed down with my building, especially since I had my conversation with Kate Tremel (the RC ceramics professor) about my work. After speaking with her I basically realized that I had no idea what I was really going for in terms of surface. Did I want it to be fuzzy, smooth, chunky,colorful, muted? She gave me a great list of artists to look up along with some suggestions about glazing. From this point on glazing should be experimented with as I am making my sculptures, or even before. I also need to do a crap ton of glaze and material tests to figure out what my own aesthetic is.The pictures I have on this post

show 6 glaze tests that I did (low fire) none

of which I really love. The washes (which I originally thought I was going to use on the large pieces) look very stark and graphic, not very inviting. I like some small parts

of other pieces, but not so much. I do like how the underglazes turned out inside the mouth. I think the contrast between a bright yellow or red will be exciting.

I want these pieces to ask the viewers to touch them. IN FACT, I think that I'm going to let the audience touch my pieces. Touch is so important to me as an artist, regardless of what material I'm working with, so why not let others? Kate mentioned that even through I was using ceramics I could use many other materials (possibly fibers) to achieve the surface I desired. THIS got my brain going... I didn't want to throw fibers out altogether and this may be a good way to incorporate it. An artists I was suggested, Jason Heckenwerth

(http://www.jasonhackenwerth.com/) creates these AMAZING, large, colorful balloon organisms. His scale, and more importantly his material choice is so friendly and inviting. He sometimes has his audience help create his pieces, or even wear them. His work is incredibly inspiring for me, especially the forms he creates. They look like they're right off the ocean floor. At this point I think my project may be shifting in tone... My proposal was very much based around the ideas of genetic mutation, speciation, ambiguity, and the cultural/site context of my installation.

I think those ideas along with adapting my forms and surfaces from biological organisms are still important, but that maybe interaction between myself and the pieces and the audience may take a larger role. Idea- the impulse to touch, what makes us want to feel something, to create something? What if the surfaces I was creating looked one way yet felt another. My work is physical and figurative and I want others to be able to experience it physically, not just visually. It's also a rarity to be able to touch artwork, especially in the context of a gallery. Most work is off limits, I sometimes even find myself nervous that I might break or touch a piece accidentally. I think it would be refreshing to produce a body of work that allows viewers to interact with it.

Other pictures I have on this post are of some mock up sculptures I did. They are about 6-7 inches at the tallest, so not as large of a commitment as my other pieces. Kate suggested that I make these to work my ideas/logistics out, and after bisquing them they can be mini test tiles. I also made some press stamps to create line and diatom like repetitions.

On a different note, someone asked me yesterday why I do art. My immediate response was that because it feels good and right, and that for the first time in my life (this year really) I am proud of what I do and want to engage others around it. This project is just as much about figuring out my process and expressing myself, as it is about creating a basic skill set in a medium that I barely know anything about.