Catch up....

I was intensely busy over the last few months preparing work for assessment at ANU Distance Diploma Residential School in Canberra and the Clay Feet exhibition in Heathcote Gallery. The run down to Christmas entailed more end of year 'events' than usual  as my three sons were graduating their respective schools.  By Christmas, I was 'over it'.

I've just returned to stonking hot Fremantle from stonking  hot Canberra, where I was reunited with many clay pals on the same course, ate out a lot, and had a brilliant time. There were some new students starting the course and a whole lot of Korean ceramic students visiting with their Professor Lee InChin.  They were a little shy at first to use their english, and nobody else spoke Korean but we all got along well.  They were doing the sculptural workshop and making self portraits, with a twist, and they were so good! 

Some of us in the final phase of our projects spent time working out kinks in our throwing skills and had Ian Jones http://www.oldsaintlukesstudio.com.au/Ian%20Jones.html and Lee InChin standing by to demonstrate, correct and generally support our throwing.  It was an unexpected treat to have such calm and kind and GOOD teaching support- we totally LOVED it and appreciated every second. 

I was thrilled to get a high mark in my glaze technology exam, so Ican breathe easier now that phase is over.  The assessment of my Interim Work Proposal (IWP) was very positive and useful.  My final project for ANU produced the large handbuilt  'nest' forms pictured above, covered with images using multiple Print On Clay techniques.   I still love what my friend Samira called my NEO-MODERN forms BUT I have't got the balance right with the strength of the surface treatment and the scale of the work.  I will use the forms for another series of work, once I finish this course at ANU.

On to the next phase - thrown one piece double-walled soft pillowy nest forms (as above) but still printed - and smaller than the ones I've recently finished.  I aim to make the surface imagery simpler and  monochromatic - I wonder if I can stick to that, I am a natural embellisher, don't know how to stop.  

I practiced making these when in Canberra last week, a little tricky, but I like the results.  I love when a fired ceramic piece convey's the impression of softness.  These are the size of a bread and butter plate, Ian Jones made a lovely one larger than a dinner plate - which is this week's aspiration. Years ago my tutor at Claremont School of Art, Drew Armstrong  showed how to throw annular forms (doughnuts to you and me) and I thought I'd never master that - but now look at me!  Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

HOPE

If you look at the image at the heading of this blog, a porcelain blossom with copper glaze inside it,this is a project I have been wanting to revisit and I tried to last week. I decided to make more 'lilies' and 'lotus blossoms' with Southern Ice porcelain but I forgot how tricky the stuff is to work with. It seduces us with the promise of whitest of white porcelain surfaces but frankly, it is like throwing cream cheese and it requires very, very slow, careful drying, cracks very easily and has a massive shrinkage rate. But still, I LOVE it and am waiting for the two surviving blossoms to dry out to be fired.

I lost four big pieces of work in the last two weeks, intended for LUMINANCE at Heathcote. I decided that as they were very large and took a lot of drying I'd come up with something less demanding. So I made some laser decal porcelain vases and rain catcher gizmos I've been toying with in the visual diary in my head, you know, when sleep is what you need but your imagination is keeping you awake.

My other blog is a ......

Clay Feet has a website and a blog

have a look at ..............http://clayfeetpotters.blogspot.com/

and at .....................http://www.clayfeet.com.au/

but come back and check in here often too please.

HOTTING UP

I have a kiln just reaching temperature right now with all my work for the Heathcote Exhibition - LUMINANCE. The opening is next Friday 13th November. We have to deliver our work on Monday so fingers a-n-d toes crossed. This is how it looked on Friday morning ....half full.

My fave is the one with photo images of my youngest boy Oscar .... it was supposed to be covered in bird images, as the other three vessels had my scanned in collection of eucalypt leaves on them but I had that photo of Oscar (11) on my phone and it just encapsulates scampish boyishness. So he has been immortalised now, he kind of likes that idea. They'll fire to sepia coloured images on polished porcelain. The interiors are glazed.

The vessels are for work I am hoping to finish tomorrow as little Rain Catchers with glassy colourless glaze and puddles of blue glaze inside as 'water' that has been caught. I'll never get used to living in such a dry country, Ireland had soooooooo much rain by comparison. If they could export it they'd sort out their economic crisis pronto. Ooops too many words again - doh!

My current work .... to be continued

Someone asked me recently what I am making these days - um, apart from a big mess - and the above photos are of works in progress, currently drying slowly prior to bisque firing.

I am making double walled vessels for my ANU final project (Independent Work Proposal), they are large enough to hold in both arms, and they just barely fit into my larger electric kiln. The plan is to decorate them with multiple techniques and layers of colour, image and text using the print on clay techniques I learnt at ANU in the last few years. The red and white 'stuff' on the lower image is a tissue transfer I had just applied and was about to peel off leaving the red pattern on the clay surface. I like to print my own transfers from my own drawings or sources. Photoshop is my friend!

The overall theme is viewing the vessel as a metaphor for a nest or a home, a place of sanctuary, safety, launch, domesticity - you name it.