October 24, 2012

Chinese Landscape Paintings

I have always admired Chinese landscape paintings.  It is incredible how much depth and detail they show with simple mark making.  Several lines, dots, and shading come together to coney a beautiful depiction of a Chinese landscape.

Martha Grover

I am drawn to Martha Grover's porcelain for it's movement and color.  It is elegant yet simplistic in a way.  These dinner sets flow very nicely together in the stacked position.  Martha's pots are invitiing to the user and she a great sense of color with her glaze application.  

Chris Staley

Chris Staley's pots are about "fragility and strength."  He primarily makes vessels, some have tight forms but loose textures that are applied.  Some of his other pieces are more loose in form but have smooth surfaces.  I really admire his work for its craftsmanship and explorations in form.  

Arthur Gould

This slip cast tea-pot was really well done.  It has a lot of freedom and movement to it.  The artist made a wise choice by just glazing it in a black satin glaze so it does not take away from the form.  

Nathan Brunson

Although this large chalice looks relatively simple in form, the glaze is what stood out to be.  The amber celadon turned out really nice with the white drips over top of it.  There is an awesome red underglaze at the bottom of the piece too.  

Curtis Stewardson

I really adore ceramic baskets.  I have never seen one shaped like this before, with a very wide base and super thick handle this piece is quite different.  The interior blue glaze is really gorgeous as well as the glazes on top of the handle over the satin black.  

October 3, 2012

Michael Connelly

Earlier this year I had Michael as a teacher.  I really enjoy his work because of his tight forms with relatively loose glaze application.  

Tom Coleman

Tom Colemans work has always been an inspiration to me.  All of the lines and mark making he puts on his pots lead your eye all around the piece.   He then goes in and highlights his mark making with very bright vibrant colors.  

Glacier National Park

This picture of Glacier National Park is absolutely beautiful.  I love the landscape with the river flowing down the rocks, leading your eye up through the trees, to the mountain top that is still blanketed with a bit of snow and the sun setting in the background.  

September 26, 2012

Shoji Hamada

I love this Shoji Hamada pot for it's elegance, beauty, and form.  This piece can be broken up into three defined sections.  The rim has a nice defined edge.  The body of the pot leads your eye around the piece with his slip decoration.  Finally the tall trimmed foot to lift the tea bowl off the surface.  

Steven Hill

This Steven Hill pitcher really stands out to me for it's form and surface.  Steven has achieved a way to have atmospheric like surfaces firing in cone 6 oxidation electric kiln.  He develops a wide variety of colors by applying a primer glaze and overlaying other glazes in sections through spraying.  

Dusk Sky in Madrid, Spain 

Roberto Zenfoid

I have always admired and enjoyed the sky and the clouds my whole life.  My absolute favorite is dusk skies over water.  I hope to get these effects on a body of my work some day.  

September 19, 2012

Emily Murphy place setting

I really adore this place setting by Emily Murphy.  It is beautifully crafted, the forms all go well with each other, and the variation of wax resist lines blend together quite nice.

Ancient Greek Pottery

While working on my service bowls, I added handles or "notches" to the sides of some of them.  I have been playing with adding thin lines to the surface of my bowls to help give the viewer another focal point to look at.  The lines and patterns on this ancient Greek pot really help draw your attention away from the handle and more to the details and form of the pot.  

Judy Chicago The Dinner Party

When I think of famous place settings only one comes to mind.  The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago has over 39 place settings.  All with distinct styles and forms that coincide with each other.  

September 12, 2012

This past week I have been investigating surface techniques by the use of sprigging and stamping.  One artist I have been observing is Ron Meyers.  Ron uses a very loose technique of sprigging on his pots.  It is not until after gestural marks, carving, and manipulating the surface that you see his animals popping out at you.  Another artist I have been observing is Kristen Kieffer.  Kristen uses stamping to completely manipulate her functional forms at the “suede” stage of the clay.  The last resource I used were multiple books to study pictures of animals.  From studying the pictures I made drawings on slabs of clay, then cut it out and applied them to the surface of my pots. 

Ron Meyers

Kristen Kieffer

Cheetah photo by Chris Johns (National Geographic)

Work in Progress

For anyone that saw my last blog post, I figured I would show you some of the bowls I made for the assignment.  These bowls have not been fired and I am going to end up throwing out a lot of them.  Most of these bowls are rough drafts or sketches for me.  I ended up making a little over 50 bowls for the assignment.  It was not until the last couple that I found a form that I really liked.  In my next assignment I will make a set of 6 matching bowls, a larger serving bowl, and I will be experimenting with stamping/sprigging on some new forms.  Stay tuned for pictures and updates. 

The first 24...

 The next 24...

The final bowl that I will make a set of 6 of...