Inspiration Close to Home - Actually at Home

Earlier this week I posted inspiration photos that I had taken at a nearby park and decided to mention that it is not always necessary to travel away from home to gain inspiration. Challenge yourself, walk around your yard or through your house and find at least one thing to inspire a new piece. It could be something natural or even a commercially purchased item. Ask yourself how you can improve upon the design, how it can be incorporated into or onto a piece currently being worked on, or what it may look like if altered to become something totally different. Use a sketchbook, it doesn't have to be for every piece but it can help when designing more elaborate pieces. Often times I'll just doodle shapes in my sketch book and play with the ones that intrigue me and see what types of vessels I can turn those shapes into. These are some of the inspiration photos that I took walking around my own yard. I included a photo of my little buddy Smokey who had a lot of fun following me. Also, I do not have a large yard. It is about 1/2 an acre in a suburban town.

Inspiration

I spent the day with my camera at a local park yesterday. The autumn colors here in northern Ohio are just past their peak but still quite beautiful and I thought that I would share some of my inspiration photos. I also collected a handful of leaves which I will be incorporating into some of my new work. Some of the photos taken will be photoshopped and used to do new paintings. Although my primary focus has turned to ceramic work, I still enjoy doing paintings now and then.

Some of the Original Pieces

After posting some of my newer work on the blog a few days ago, I realized that I hadn't posted any of my older work. These pieces were done towards the end of 2005 and beginning of 2006 while still auditing classes at the college after graduating. They are composed of high fire stoneware with sprayed glazes and fired at cone 10 in a gas reduction atmosphere. My newest work is composed of mid fire stoneware, sprayed crystalline matte glazes, and fired to cone 6 electric. However, the challenge has been to replicate the glaze interest of the high fire reduction ware in cone 6 oxidation. I'm getting closer but still have work to do.

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Powerpoint Presentation

Well, as I said previously, I am an emerging artist and would like to find gallery representation. To do so, I am currently working on a PowerPoint presentation of my work that includes a title page, artist statement, and photos of my work. I will be adding more work to it but what I have started so far may be viewed  at https://docs.google.com/present/view?id=0AQnbeodaW8TeZGNxc2gzdzlfMGY4M2htZGdi&hl=en (corrected link-sorry for any inconvenience).

I have identified several galleries where I would like to have my work shown. I will copy the PowerPoint presentation to CD and include it with a short introductory letter and send it those galleries. I will let you know how it goes.

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Some of my newest work from the Ecosystems Series

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References

 My favorite reference materials include the Robin Hopper series of books: "Making Marks" which focuses on surface decoration, "Functional Pottery" which focuses on design, and "The Ceramic Spectrum" which focuses on glaze composition. I also like Susan and Jan Peterson's book "The Craft and Art of Clay" which provides a wealth of technical information. "Hands in Clay" is another good one for technical info by Charlotte Speight and John Toki.

My favorite websites include: http://ceramicartsdaily.org which provides technical information, short video clips, gallery listings, calls for entry, and much more. Another good site which I found through the Potter's Council (listed on ceramic arts daily website) is http://www.manhattanarts.com/ 

which has support information for artists and art marketing tips from Renee Phillips. She also has a blog at http://reneephillips.blogspot.com/

A good source for technical demonstration clips is "YouTube" at  You Tube

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Dry Pieces with Additions Slowly

Many of the pieces that I make have delicate additions in the forms of handles and decoration. When I first began this body of work many of those additions would crack at the curved areas or separate where they attached to the body. To overcome this problem, I have learned to slightly dampen my work table as I roll the coils and keep the coils moist by covering them with a moist towel until I am ready to use them. Once I have all of the pieces attached to the leather hard body of the piece, I cover it fairly tightly with a large plastic bag for several days to even out the moisture of the body and additions and then leave it lightly covered to dry slowly until completely dry.

Keeping It Round

I was working on cups yesterday and thought I would fill you in on a little tip to help keep the rims of small objects round. When I first began making cups, mugs, and small objects, those pieces would often warp when removed from the wheel and upon drying. To keep the pieces round, I threw an upside down conical shaped piece with a hefty rim which aided in keeping its shape very round. It looks like a funnel but with a flat bottom.  I bisque fired the piece and now insert it into the tops of my mugs and cups when they have had a little time to dry but are not quite leather hard. As a result, my cups and mugs dry with a perfectly round mouth.