Tis the season for a handmade Christmas!

 

Christmas presents for my best friends.  Can you guess who is who?

7x10, collage and drawing.

Cocoon Spotlight

I  never shared any detail shots of the singular pieces from Colony, but these are some of my favorites.  They were from the soda kiln fall semester that Kim, Michelle, and I were in charge of.  They are made from Zela, Aurora, and Helios porcelain- fired to cone 10 with flashing slips and such.  My little treasures.  They deserve a shout out.

Thesis (The Final Countdown)

From top to bottom: Plans for a soda fire wall piece. | A very productive night in the studio. | Taking my work home with me for an all nighter. | First time playing with washes. | Beautiful test tiles! | Ordering some postcards for friends and family. | Finished small pieces!

Now to string them up and cover them in hair.  T-minus 8 days until install!

Thesis (in Progress)

From top to bottom: The beginning stages of research in the home studio. | Getting my hands on clay after a long summer - such a wonderful feeling! | A rare, cool September morning in the warehouse. | Plans for installation. | Plans on plans on plans. | Where all my money goes. | A nest is born. | Ready for the first firing! | Ghetto transport between studio and school. | Experimenting with some terra cotta. | A much needed happy hour with my best friend. | The first look at the clay and hair textures together.

Interiors

Interiors, 2012.

White earthenware, wax, acrylic paint, synthetic hair.

Back to Bottles

New project #2.  I woke up this morning and knew that I had to attend to the mess that is my home studio.  It turned out not to be such a big clean-up and I sat staring at a twisted ceramic bottle from last semester.  

So I thought, "Let's play today."

And this is what I came up with.  I worked with fleshy-colored watercolors and wax to create a bodily appearance.  I was experimenting with the anthropomorphic nature of the bottle's shape.

I think this is a good start.  Hopefully there shall be more to come.

Schism

Here is another assignment for Pamela's class.  This was for the mixed media assignment, in which we were challenged to create a piece that was 50% ceramic, 50% mixed media. 

I have had this idea in my head for a while.  I picked up a Home Economics handbook from Good Cents that was from the 1950's, and with Mad Men always on my Netflix queue, I have had the idea of women's roles and the schism between the public and private spheres stuck in my head.  While flipping through the handbook, I was really interested in the words that they used to describe household chores and what they mean when taken out of context- rules, separate, beat, method... I took these words, along with others, and wanted to put them inside an icon of female craft- the embroidery hoop- and recreate the idea of sewing.

Originally, I was going to have all ceramic circles within the hoops, but I found that incorporating fabrics with traditional, soft patterns would compliment the ceramic slabs, which were worked to have a very subtle lace texture through acrylic paint.  I took the idea of female identity to the next level by incorporating the hair of myself and loved ones, as well as synthetic hair in slabs which needed a hefty amount of hair.

A detail with the braided hair of my sister and myself.

Human hair, thread, fabric.

Synthetic hair and fabric.

Thread and synthetic hair.

The hoops are 4.25" in diameter and 12.5" in diameter.

White earthenware, fabric, embroidery hoops, thread, synthetic hair, human hair.

Damaged Goods

 

White earthenware (press molds and slip casting) and sand, 2012.

A progression through time, a lifelong struggle.

Inside

Inside, 2012. Pine needles, twine, glazed white earthenware fired to cone 04.

Never going near a pine needle again. So many scratches.

Foxy Lady

For the past couple of weeks in Linda's class, we have been busy bees making costumes for a festival in Railroad Square this weekend called Artigras.  We are all making animal costumes and walking in a parade!

A couple of us are paper-macheing giant fox heads to wear...

So of course it only made sense to have fur on our costumes.  So a couple of days ago, Michelle and I went to Good Cents (love that place so much) and made out like complete bandits.  Less than a dollar each for giant stuffed animals with fox-like fur?! PERFECT. 

I proceeded to, like a complete weirdo, rip every seam out of these stuffed animals for their prized hides. I got a nice pile I think, and Michelle is taking all of the stuffing!

Unfortunately I can't be in the parade because of personal issues, but someone else will be taking my place, and we all know that I will, someday in the near future, put this costume on in it's entirety and snap a picture for all of you!