Week 2 - Finding Form

This week, I have been sculpting like a maniac (at least compared to my regular sculpting pace). I started the week by doing some visual research, primarily studying tafoni (aka honeycomb weathering) formations and rocks sculpted by waves. There are many different types of tafoni caused by different types of weathering, but from what I’ve learned, tafoni most commonly occurs from salt erosion on seaside rocks. Salt crystals from sea spray settle on the rock and over time, disintegrate the materials in the rock, leaving behind hollow cavities. I still need to do more research to fully understand these processes, but I am fascinated by the little I have learned, and am eager to visit locations in the future to study tafoni and other weathering in person. I recall the mind boggling tidal pools and other worldly rock formations on Vancouver Island that I would play at often in the summers of my childhood. I have been channeling the wonder I experienced as a child, and the distant memories I have of the crazy curves, points, and crevasses of that area in my sculpting. I’m finding a connection with the way rock is transformed by different weathering and erosion, into wonderful, beautiful forms that look like they were sculpted by an artist, to the ways that things I thought to be unchanging and permanent in my childhood have transformed, ended, aged, or been rediscovered.

Having pictures on my studio wall, and little intuitive maquettes I made with air-dry clay, has helped me immensely in my making. I am much more excited about the form I’m working on (pictured below) than the lamp I made last week. After some very helpful feedback from Brian, I have plans to build off the base of this form so that it doesn’t just sit flat on a surface. I am also going to try an awesome idea Brian gave me — to build from a solid clay base that is carved into. That way, the sculpture would sit in a supported, already-sculpted base, and the negative space of the carved block would create an interesting bottom, rather than having to build off a flat base after the top of the form has been built. Pictured to the right is the solid base that I haven’t yet carved into.

In addition to my closed form, I finished an addition to my “Propriocepta” series, pictured below. This sculpture is double the size of the ones I have made in the past, and I pushed myself to create it as quickly as possible. It still took several days (the carving of the inside takes a looong time), but I definitely worked quicker than I have in the past, and I am proud of the form. My ongoing challenge with these is finding a way to display them, and now, figuring out new glazes/surface treatments that show off their form the best. I will be conducting smaller glaze tests in the gas kiln before committing to firing this full form (hopefully in the soda!). I am envisioning a installation of my collection of propriocepta in the future. I am excited about seeing them all in context (whatever that ends up being…), and to continue making more of these forms. I love them.

Functional work has been on the back burner this week. I tried to make an altered lidded jar twice but the altering part made the lid stick to the jar (I will come back to this - mark my words). I also made some goblets in stoneware (pictured to the left), testing out hollow handles, because I have about a 50% success rate with my solid handles forming surface cracks in the bottom. In the coming weeks, I want to test out another porcelain recipe and try out hollow handle goblets again.

weekly gratitudes

~ Rocks. Finding endless inspiration in the natural world.

~ The knowledge and advice Brian and others have shared with me this week. So many new ideas and possibilities have opened up just from suggestions of techniques and experimental ways of approaching my work.

~ I am now employed!

thinking about:

different orientations (rather than flat bottoms) for my forms, different methods of creating surface texture, connecting the silhouettes of my goblets and other altered functional ware to the silhouettes of my sculptures.

the malleability of solids — the impermanence of things humans see as permanent. how to make an audience contemplate change and temporality, and/or to look closer - to explore - forms.

artists on my mind:

Michael Kukla, Meng Zhao, August Lantz, Chance Taylor.