A magnet on my fridge door reminds the four males in my house that 'Only dull women have immaculate houses'. I have no wish to be 'dull', nor to be dazzling either. I suspect that taking time out to say, clean the bath, dust the blinds or vacuum, would rob me of time spent on more interesting things to me like - clay, glaze, art, books, friends, movies, studio time. In addition to this weak argument for being a hint slovenly at times - I am allergic to dust! That kind of justifies my approach I think. I am only protecting my health, right?! Fortunately a blindness to mess prevails in our very tolerant home. So I was torn last week between doing the necessary housey stuff and spending time on clay at CIT Perth for this my first ever Artist's residency. I clocked up enough time to get about four 60cm platters made by forming the clay into a mould I'd made. As I observed them, firming up slowly, and contemplated how I'd decorate them - the inclination to splash brush loads of slip just took over. What am I doing here? I am indulging myself in some time to make what the heck appeals most to me just now, to make large platters from crunchy robust clay, play with my print techniques on clay, explore some hot textural glazes and get some pretty adventurous quadraxial tests up and running. I haven't used my Matrix software for ages and I love it so. The platters are made through a technique
Ian Jones, ACE Woodfirer of ACT taught us ways to make BIG STUFF. It was novel and liberating to be making BIG stuff but sadly I could not take my work back on the plane with me to Perth. A 60cm platter on Qantas? It wasn't happening. I can throw larger pieces but have a dodgy shoulder I must work around. So I make the slightly (maybe more than that) imperfectly formed hand built platters, and let my first instinct tell me how to finish them. I think I am overwhelming myself with all of the ideas I want to try out but gosh it is fun to just 'play'.
I've been thinking I needed a platter mould. Does the platter have a foot underneath? Wish I could both be a better housekeeper and ignore more dust at the same time, I'd get heaps more clay work made :^) Hope to see how you finish these..
ReplyDeleteWhy is it that exploring new ideas and developing these ideas is 'INDULGENT' ? It should be ,and is ,encouraged by Arts Grants..so, ditch the guilt-GO FOR IT !!
ReplyDeleteThe 'ground hog day' mess will always be there !! have fun !!
Anna, this one doesn't have a foot but if you make your platter deep enough that is easy to fix. I will post an image of the ring mould soon, though you may need to remind me of this. In fact I'm thinking of using the Page option on Blogger for creating a page for techniques with mini tutorials on a few little things if I can get it together. I may also generate a little roster for my blog so i post on different topics each day like a tutee one day, a YouTube clip on clay and so on.. (I hear you laughing at me Adriana Christianson!). I like using plaster press moulds into for forming, and EVEN better, Paper Plaster Press moulds for their lightness. The platter in the photos cracked over the weekend while drying out, probably due to the tensions, it was a bit thin in one part and I couldn't see it while it was in the mould. I am so used to losses I just curse, and make a new one now. I made a couple of platter forms in plough shares yesterday, I love that simple, low curved, elegant shape. I will probably put a thrown foot onto them, the clay is BRT and very heavily grogged though. AC you are right - maybe luxuriating would have been a more suitable word though it is a necessity to stop and play if you want to get your groove on with new work. And making these is making me want to get asymmetrical with work too. All Good! I blog to have these conversations, wish more people would comment and talk to me this way!!
ReplyDeleteso NOT laughing E ! Bring it on ...I will be yr #1 fan :)
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