Being in the ceramics studio, with all of the materials, tools, space, and guidance, has been liberating. This summer began with a process challenge – to use paperclay and create work which combined my sgraffito and sculptural pieces. While working on this, I discovered an underlying thread in my work. Water. The circular designs which have been created over and over are representations of drops of water on another body of water. Yo Ahn suggested looking deeper at the memory of water or exploring what water leaves behind. This, along with a workshop with Ben Ryderband, sparked bolder expressions with clay and experimentation. I added excessive slip to one pot to watch how the water decomposed it. Pieces of clay were added to the outside of another pot and a few tumblers to resemble mud and observe the interactions of gravity and weight. This exploration and some work in Seminar, led to me realizing I really wanted to look at water more closely, not what is left behind in the absence of water.
We, as humans, are drawn to water. Standing in the ocean or a large lake, we become calm and meditative – watching gentle waves, feeling them lift us, then place us back down again.
Without water we do not live. It’s movement or stillness, scent, sound, how it catches the light, and reflectiveness…it’s power, it’s rhythm. That is the physicality of water. But it has deeper meanings through time and cultures, like raking representations of water in a sandy zen garden.
I am presently looking at the representation of water from the perspective of someone who has a life-long meditation and yoga practice. Water can be seen as a symbol of wisdom, peace, and purity. It represents healing and suffering, stillness and rage, change and constancy.
By week three I created the first piece in the Wave Series. The viewer of this series will feel the meditative quality of gentle waves, the occasional mini whirlpool, get lost in the crests and troughs, and find a quiet mind. I have also started to note other disruptions to the surface of water, but have not yet created with that thought. The exploration has just begun.I am currently planning pieces that reflect the dichotomies previously mentioned.
I am looking at artists Alberto Bustos (experimentation and movement) Judi Tavill (translating connections visually) Janny Baek (micro studies) and Rebecca Hutchinson (detail)
his has sparked thoughts about fire, and what it is about a fire that we can stare at it, silent, for long periods of time?
Below is the first of the Waves.
Below is #2 in Waves: Whirlpool
#3 Waves: Surface Disruption
Some pieces in process from the Ceramics Workshop with Ben Ryderband. These pieces were used as tests for shop glazes and what to use on the Waves.
A bowl as a study in the memory of water. “Relic” is a combination of sculpture, sgraffito, and throwing
“Limits” Before, with excessive amounts of slip and After, it has bowed down.
Explorative works for the memory of water concept and a few explorations with the clay I was given.
The first larger piece using paperclay. It has potential but was not hitting the mark for me. It feels too forced. I have bisque fired it but am currently contemplaing how to finish it.
