Ceramic and fabric - remake of a photograph

Made ceramic and fabric piece from a photograph of a street scene in Mysore. I had visited there years ago, on the way to the wedding of a friend. I was in the shop right next to the picture below, selecting the fabric for the under pieces for the sari I ended up wearing to one of the ceremonies. The man in the yellow shirt was my driver for this section of the trip -- he was wonderful -- guiding without directing, protecting without stifling. Such an absolutely fantastic trip that was --wish everyone could have that experience. 

The picture above is a bit off, as I was removing the background of the photo -- and didn't do it perfectly. 

 

Building a city -- part of it -- ceramics

In process of using a photograph I took for inspiration of a scene on a street in Mysore.  I had been there long ago, on my way to a wedding of a friend. More when I complete the project.  

Clay, hand built. 

 

Production Pottery -- kind of! :)

Made these last week .. fast! For fundraising event. Nice group of people surrounding, fun times. 

 

From a documentary - ceramics and plexiglass

 

I won't put the full interpretation here, in part because I don't want to oversimplify the documentary I recently saw. Natural resources, relationships on several levels. Was an assignment about relationships....not necessarily the human kind. The clip is intentional, as the story can change with a different environment in the background. 

Seaweed Print, Marine Research Center explore, Blue Angels

Had a long and fun day.  First a walk to a once a month outdoor market, then to a once a year open house at a Marine Research place that is normally closed to the public. Beautiful views, right on the bay. Learned things too. They had lots of interactive activities, quite engaging for kids and adults. Above is a seaweed print I made using their (an artist/author/photographer/designer was the key person) set up and seaweed. Picked the pieces because the lower one reminded me of a salamander, and the upper one like polliwog. 

Fleet week brought air show, and the Blue Angels gave a particularly fantastic performance. So close to each other, so fast. And they kindly flew over us several times.  

Appreciated the amount of dirt by the pocket on the lab coats. Honest dirt is a good thing. 

 

Ceramic Sculpture, Inspired by a childhood photograph.

Can be removed easily from stand -- need to make sure has full freedom. The top part does rotate.

Pug clay, no glaze.  Inspired by a photograph of my parents and me when I was a kid...the life given with two cultures blended, freedom to explore thought and the world. 

Prototype below:

 

Ceramics -- assignment, elements

 Not quite a perfect background removal -- maybe it is more distracting as is! Assignment, so, not my true move for expression.  I then interpreted the assignment again, to the one below, where it is a simple form, and I can remove/add the extra elements as I choose. 

The components of the incorporated elements:

Urn, Vase with lid - Soda Fire

 

Pulled this together rather quickly on last day of class we could work on wet clay. Those balls are on top of balls -- it was a lot of rolling and slip!  Used soda fire to add some "vintage" and with hope that it would obscure some of my messy work with the balls -- was doing it so fast, couldn’t  take the amount of time needed to make them all clean at the joins.  All the rest is thrown. 

Vase - ceramics

 

Kept it un-glazed because I wanted simple and natural to work with the shape of the piece. 

Rod's Bod clay. All thrown on the wheel. 

Bowl - to flip rice with tadich

 

Made a ceramic bowl the "perfect" size to put over the pot I in which I cook tadich. This way I can flip, and hopefully have an unbroken plain of tadich! The golden brown of the rice to catch highlights in the glaze.  Bowl is bigger than what it looks in this picture. 

   

In the kiln…soda and regular high fire

 

This is in soda fire..haven’t used the glaze before, so will see. Glad the top of the piece is aligned in kiln with the bottom. 

Lower photo includes a larger bowl I made…hope my messy edge of glaze melts nicely. 

Ceramic Sculptures -- now with bases

Both are made of clay. Like the plexiglass for color and light. The one with the pink may get changed to full sheet to cover the wood...in decision process.  (The wood is clean cut....the little jag at the right there is a less than prefect background erase). Both pieces inspired by gallery/museum visits last month on the same weekend -- Berkeley(sculpture)  and deYoung (painting). 

Texture on the brown piece. 

 

Ceramic Sculpture - Soda Fire

Soda Fire...Saint John's black. Inspired by a Robert Motherwell painting at recent de Young visit. 

Up close color takes on more dimensions than this photograph. 

 

Ceramic Snake and Butterfly - Abstract

 

Saw a snake in the garden, and nearby a butterfly. Executed in clay. Threw doughnuts, then textured. Will hang them together, likely using fabric to connect.

Texture on snake below. 

 

Fired, and ready for next chapter

More to do with this trio above, but liked how they came out un-glazed from high fire. 

Below a couple vases that have more to come as well. Oh, yes, I tried to have that flat part on the ridge of the wider one. (hmmm). 

 

Person in person ..ceramics

 

In the series of figures I have made lately, here are two made to go together. Haven't decided on glaze yet, so, they are hanging out bisqued fired for now. I won't explain their meaning to me, but was part of my thought throughout. Details added for a reason..and in relation to their precursors.  Openness, placement, etc. Ceramics. Not trying for cute, but know big eyes and roundness can do that. Image just below if view inside top of head. :)

Ceramic Figure

 

Will be one of a series of five. The story of 5 will not all be in clay, but, the materials will play into the story.  The next one here is a little tricky for me to figure out, as it involves taking two figures and merging them in a more complicated way then a seam merge. Ceramics. There are 4 vertical cuts on this one.

Altered forms - Ceramics

Working on concept of similar forms, aligned, and altered. 

Various clay bodies, all initially thrown on the potter's wheel.  

 

Goblet -- bigger than an elephant

 Large goblet for notable achievements. Bigger than an elephant.

Black Mountain bowl and balls

 

Used Black Mountain clay for the first time in my memory. Wanted the contrast with white family glaze. I had thrown a simple bowl to hold my test tiles (balls).  Had planned 8 balls, but ran out of class time. Found that my hand was big for the ball shape, could have done it on hump, but was trying to regulate my shape, so keep the amount of clay the same by measuring prior....the hump might have given me too much flexibility, giving my balls too much freedom to come out same ballpark shape. I think there is pun potential there, but enough close calls. :)