Left to Right- The Good Life, Miessen, Johann Kaendler, 1762 and Specimens for Ash Fest
This semester I had the opportunity to visit the Prairie Museum of Art and History in Colby Kansas where I saw the ceramic porcelain Miessen piece entitled “The Good Life” by Johann Kaendler. This piece of Miessen inspired some of the chosen artifacts in each sedimentary specimen that I made for a wood firing conference called AshFest that I’m attending this summer. “The Good Life” made me think about choosing unique everyday objects/artifacts associated with social festivities as instead of solitary activities. This is a one part slip cast mold made from a wooden specimen base. A press molded circuitry specimen would be places in the bottom of the mold and casting slip was then poured over the top. I experimented with different clay bodies to find a clay body that the casting slip would bond to and not crack. This research was a success.
This piece features a large piece of cast iron that is imbedded in the clay sediment. The left photograph shows this piece in the greenware state and the right photograph shows the finished piece.
RISE highlights the emerging talent from the Fort Hays State University Graduate Program. This diverse group of makers exemplifies fine craft, celebrates traditional practice, and contributes to the field through concept and process driven work. RISE is hosted by The Red Lady Gallery in Kansas City's historic West Bottoms. This was a demonstration on how to build a coiled and slab constructed clay sedimentary specimen with artifacts emerging from revealed upper stratum.
Press molds are a super important part of my practice. To make a clay press mold, press an object into a wet slab of clay and then remove it. Bisque this slab of clay and then press wet clay into the bisqueware mold. You will then be able to pop out a molded piece of wet clay to build or embellish with.
Trace is a pseudoscientific investigation of potential artifacts, specimens, and fossils, of 21st century American culture. This series considers how these findings might be interpreted and valued in the future and what histories or narratives these artifacts might tell. When exploring museums of any kind I find myself lost in thought, imagining the world that these artifacts, specimens, or fossils existed in and curious of the authenticity of interpretation through categorizing collections. This series of work takes the familiar artifacts of our time and turns them into undefined foreign remnants for the future open to new interpretation and cultural appropriation. Archeological findings on land are found embedded in the earth, making clay a sensible construction material choice. Metal castings are also present because of the similarity between casting a metal object and the geological process of remineralization or replacement. Each artifact is imbedded in sediment that gives clues about what natural environment it may have existed in. Larger specimens have structural ruins imbedded in them that seem to be frozen in the moments before complete collapse. Crystals and organic growths representative of earth’s continual and evolving cycles decorate the surface of each sedimentary form. Art display is conceptually important in this series. Pieces are displayed on shipping crates, observation tables, metal specimen trays, or in sorted collections. The selected display device places a value and associations on these specimens.
These wall pieces are constructed from slabs and have slab structural supports built within them. The image of work in the kiln shows what these wall pieces look like fully constructed.
I working with majolica glazes this semester and have made several sample specimens. The pieces above are at a variety of stages- bisqued red earthenware, glazed, and fired.
This week's science project- I would like to grow crystals on my specimens so I've been researching different ways to grow crystals on ceramics. Here are two of my results.
Create 6 specimens that have fossils of the future within them from specific places within a domestic setting such as, the kitchen, bathroom sink, night stand, home office, under the sink, etc. Each specimen is connected to a gridded ceramic specimen base accompanied by a rebar abstraction on top of what the rock formation used to look like. The rebar is brightly colored to draw attention to the pieces and heed a warning. Crystal formations pop out from the specimen sides. These pieces are glazed and fired to cone 04. Finished pieces are roughly 20x10x20 inches and 12x12x12 inches.
Create 6 battery, clock, and circuitry themed specimens from terra blanc that are attached to gridded and sided specimen trays. Between each layer of clay is a layer of glaze that will allow the layers of clay to move during the 04 firing. Specimens are embellished with crystal and gem developments. Minimum size 12x12x12 inches. Over the 2015 Winter Break I had the opportunity to do a residency at the San Bao Ceramic Art Institute in China that included working in clay and casting metal. Several students from the Fort Hays State University and Rochester Institute of Technology Ceramics and Sculpture Departments participated in this three week long residency. These are a few of my ceramic pieces that were in the residency group show entitled "2" at the San Bao Galleries.
Site Specific Fossils of the Future from San Bao Residency. These small memory chip specimens were made to be strategically placed throughout the San Bao gardens for future visitors to discover.
Over the 2015 Winter Break I had the opportunity to do a residency at the San Bao Ceramic Art Institute in China that included working in clay and casting metal. Several students from the Fort Hays State University and Rochester Institute of Technology Ceramics and Sculpture Departments participated in this three week long residency. These are images of my metal castings that were in our residency group show entitled "2" in the San Bao Galleries
Loading another bisque in a San Bao gas kiln. There is a place for everything in the kiln and the kilns are tightly packed. Its incredible.
Loading the cone 10 glaze fire at the city kiln. We load in the morning and pick the work up the next morning, so its a 24 hour cycle.
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