More Clay Class Stuff...

Just got back the fired/glazed 2nd big bear project. If you missed it, you can see the process of it being built here. It's a little lumpy & bumpy, but overall I like it. Out of the two larger sculptural forms I've done, this is the only one to make it through 2 firings start to finish, so that in itself is pretty cool. Though I have found I have far less control over the clay when attempting larger/hollow pieces.

Below is my second attempt at the "inside out/outside in" project I was working on for class. I was actually quite happy with this one... it came out much more like my original idea/sketch than the first attempt.

And remember all the work I did on the "magic clay" testing? Down the drain... the underside cracked like crazy during the drying process! Oh well... it was a learning process... at least I know now what not to do. (Now I just have to figure out what to do!)

In other clay class news, I seem to have settled into the fact that from start to finish, it generally takes many weeks to get work back, and I feel I've been a bit more patient in that arena. I also started my Micaceous Clay class last week (see pots on the side bar from the class I took last fall)  but am not much liking the pot I'm working on. :(  Interestingly, I am finding the teaching styles & techniques from my previous instructor to the one I have now vary quite a bit, so it almost feels as if I am starting from scratch, and I'm not at all achieving the results I'd like! It's a "short session" class~ only once a week (all day) for 7 weeks, so I hopefully I'll get the hang of this different method soon. I want to make gorgeous big pots, not asymmetrical, lumpy ones! I'll keep y'all posted.

:)

Magic Clay & New Assignments

A friend of mine had recommended to me a paper-embedded clay called Akio that is supposed to be great for larger sculptural works... apparently you can build thicker walls, & experience less cracking, which would be awesome. Problem is, I couldn't find it here. And to pay for shipping from the Pac Northwest... well, that wouldn't be cost effective!

But, as luck would have it, they had a similar product called "magic clay" @ NM Clay in Albuquerque. It's a fiber embedded clay that is supposed to have those same magical qualities: less cracking, more forgiving AND supposedly you can build wet to dry... thus you don't have to worry as much about keeping the clay at a uniform moisture level, which I had some difficulties with on the previous larger works I attempted. I peeled off a strip so you could see the fibers. What a trip, huh? It's like furry clay! :) When the clay is fired, the tiny fibers burn away, leaving just the clay body behind.

Well, I had really been wanting to try this new clay, but had been busy w/ other class assignments (w/another clay body) & life in general, so it has been sitting & waiting. We were given our new assignment (loosely based on the concept "inside out- outside in") so i decided to try this magic clay w/ one of my 2 ideas. I wanted to incorporate the bear in this project, and when I was out hiking the other day, an idea came about making a woman emerging from a bear form. Now, I thought this was an original idea, but it also felt very familiar. A woman in class & I had been talking... a conversation originating from my previous bear projects, about how she had heard that if a bear was skinned, it looked very similar to a human form. I thought the idea I had was perhaps related to that conversation... a relationship between human & animal form, and incorporating the concept of bringing the inside (human form) out. But here's an interesting thing about making art- we are very often influenced consciously or unconsciously by other artists. After several days of thinking, I looked up some Kiki Smith images and found very similar subject matter. But I wanted to go with it, because I did like the idea,  & I've never tried to sculpt the human form. Oh, Geesh, here's some of my sketches so you get the general idea of where I was heading.

Below, building a rough human-like form. Behind it are the bear legs, but I couldn't get it to look quite right, so had to improvise from the original sketches.

Addition of head, arms & bear head, which is hollow & hangs off the side. If you're wondering what that thing is hanging of the left arm, it's supposed to be bear skin ( c'mon, use your imagination!) And the left leg... well it blends into a bear's hind foot, of course!

Addition of hair & attempting to sculpt the body a bit.

The semi- finished piece below.

It's very rough,amateurish, and of course featureless (I need to take a class on sculpting features!) but there's something about it I really like. I think it's actually the "unfinished" look it has to it... the way the woman's legs are not complete, as if she's rising up. Plus, it's a starting point, as well as a test of the Magic Clay.