Semester 2: Week 1/2 - Feeling Inspired

I started off the semester a week late, because my mom and I took an epic little vacation to visit Disneyland and go on a 5-day cruise down to Cabo, Mexico! I’m so grateful to have been able to spend time in the sun with her.

This past week in the studio has been relatively laid back; my cohorts and I each did presentations on our artistic influences and have begun discussing our semester plans, and I’ve been slowly progressing on my stool. I really don’t know if its weird tripod-points will be able to support the weight once it’s finished. It’ll certainly be a test of the strength of this paper clay (which I’m almost out of — I hope the rest of this batch and its reclaim will be enough to finish this sculpture off, especially considering the custer feldspar shortage…). This sculpture’s just weird in general. I’m not thrilled about it — I didn’t think it would survive in the first place — but I have cool-ish plans for its seat/back and I need to push it out to see if it’s functional with the supports I’ve built/what I need to do differently in my future attempts if it isn’t.

In most exciting news, my two-parter sculpture survived the bisque! I was surprised and ecstatic to find that the larger half made it out without any stress cracks, even with the narrow part near its base. Unfortunately, the uneven weight distribution prevents it from balancing on its tripod, but I have plans of building a metal frame with a rod going through the sculpture to stable it. GH had the genius idea (when does he not?) of installing the top half of the sculpture upside down, like a stalactite, from a ceiling grid, and I also want to see this idea through. In the coming weeks, I will need to drill holes in the flat bottoms of both halves and figure out the rigging system and metal stability frame for both of these installation plans.

I’m starting out this semester strong, applications wise. I just submitted my application for a summer residency at The Hambidge Center. This is an almost fully funded 2-4 week long opportunity at a 600-acre property in the secluded mountains of northern Georgia, where I would have access to a full ceramics studio and private living space amongst artists across many other disciplines. Though I’m not super confident in my chances, I am really proud of the proposal letter I wrote; they are getting easier every time.

weekly gratitudes

~ a Friday/Saturday off work! (One of the places I bartend at was closed this week)

~ getting back in the gym, getting full nights of sleep

~ my friends, coworkers, studio mates, and mom, who are supporting, respecting, and affirming me

thinking about:

Finally starting to feeling valid and confident in my identity and journey of self discovery. Trusting in myself.

Time-based / temporary / performance-based sculpture.

artists on my mind:

Cassils