Experiments, Persistence, Big News & Delightfully My Longest Post Ever!

"All life is an experiment... the more experiments you make, the better."

              ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

So here I go again with my Experiments in Clay! I'm sure you all thought that I had forgotten all about trying to go large after my big bear "busted loose" earlier in the semester. Nope! Ideas have just been percolating, that's all! And I came up with (what I thought was) a brilliant one!! It's a long story with lots of photos, but stick with me here, 'cause it has a  very exciting ending!(You may want to grab a cup of coffee & a snack... and feel free to take an intermission at your leisure!) O.k. so here was my big idea- build an armature out of chicken wire, cover it w/ slabs of Magic Clay, cut it apart,& put it back together.(Remembering the properties of this fiber clay- unlike standard clay bodies,you are supposed to be able to add wet to dry, take apart, put back together & so forth.) No Problema, right?  Right... in theory anyhow. Well, as I said, I thought this idea was simply brilliant, and I'm always up for a good experiment so off I went! First to the hardware store, where I bought a roll of chicken wire... and about 2 or so hours later, I had put together a roughly 2 ft long by foot high bear "undersculpture."

A few days later, I took it to school, covered it in plastic wrap & tape so that the clay would not stick to the chicken wire, and, at the suggestion of my instructor, added some foam to provide some "give" as the clay shrank during the drying process, so as to prevent cracking.

Here I have rolled out clay slabs & blended them together to form the top of the bear body. So far, all was going according to plan. Little did I know my plan was about to change.

:)

My original plan was to cover the under sculpture completely in clay, let it dry, cut it apart & put it back together. After I did the top, I realized it how difficult it would be to flip the bear on it's back w/ wet clay on top in order to do the bottom portion.

So on I went to plan B. I was really just making this up as I went along, which was rather funny, because I can't tell you how many people came up to me asking what the heck I was doing... as if I could give them a concrete answer! All I could say was "I have no idea, I'm just experimenting!" Anywho, so what I did next was (hold on to your seat!)let it dry to a little less than a "leather hard" state, so I could begin the cutting. 

I realized that if I had even finished the legs, I'd have a really difficult time getting them loose from the chicken wire, so I took off the top & the lateral portion of the legs, flipped it on it's back, and did the underside.

Problem was, the top portion was large, and was not dry enough to hold its shape off the under sculpture.

The pieces had to dry together, or as close together as I could get them, in order to maintain their shape so that I could get the pieces back together at some point. So, everything went back together on the under sculpture.

Keep in mind that the clay on the underside is in quite a wet state, so even keeping it together at this point was a feat! Until a came up with another brilliant idea. Tape!

Poor guy. It looks like he is being held hostage! I left him there over the weekend to dry completely with a note stuck to him that said "this is not trash- don't throw away! :)" 

When I came in the following week he was fully dry, so I untaped him, armed with a ceramic file, goggles and mask- with full intention of putting it all back together.(Dang! I wish I had a picture of that- I'm sure I looked pretty hilarious... or crazy... or both!) After about an hour outside, I could see it was just not going to work. The pieces just weren't going to fit properly and to try to reattach with the magic clay would be certain failure. At this point, I was still up for firing it- just to see what would happen. This is what happened- my many pieces broke into many more. Aaaah, my hopes deflated!

Now, this is the point where I was ready to call it quits. I roughly assembled the pieces, thinking I could possibly glue it back together, but took a look at it and thought "Nope, I'm done... I tried, I failed- no big deal." I'd have never known unless I experimented, & really, it was just something I needed to do, and it was fun! But then, my instructor came up with an awesome idea. He suggested we do a sawdust fire. Sounds great to me!

All my bear bits & pieces went into the can, along with wads of paper & sawdust, where they smoked away for many hours. When I came in the next day to pull out the pieces, this is what I found. Yes, that's right, my bear pieces broke into even more pieces!!! But I was not disheartened... what caught my eye was the beautiful patterns of smoke created by this process. Sifting through the ash, I felt like a kid an easter egg hunt... stopping to examine each piece like it was the greatest treasure ever! Thankfully the top portion stayed in one piece!

The day after that I got to work!! Well not that I hadn't been already, but you know what I mean.(My instructor had suggested that I put it together & enter it in the student art show... well, of course I was going to put it together, but I was not deluding myself at that point that I would enter. Plus the Jury to get in was only a day & 1/2 away!)Putting this together was what I would imagine it to be like if one were putting together archeological remnants. Sometimes it was slow going, like putting together puzzle pieces... and trying to find out just what pieces fit where.

And some pieces were quite small!

But it was so much fun... and challenging! By the way- the "5 minute epoxy" really starts setting in about 2 minutes or less, so you've really got to work fast once you mix it. And clearly, you can't put it all together at once, so it's mix, piece together, mix etc. The red tape is holding the pieces until they fully set, which is about an hour.

After about 7 hours, I was finally making progress!!

One of the hardest parts was trying to get the bottom part of the Jaw attached. The points of contact were just too small. It was getting late, so I got it as close as I could & propped it up with a needle tool, hoping it would hold. 

I came in the next morning for my Micaceous Class & found that it didn't. (Note to self: Tape! Not needle tool! Arrrgh!)

Well I was a little bummed, because at this point,I was thinking about that student show... hmmmm. So on my lunch break from Micaceous, there I was, sitting on the floor in the hallway with my piece, frantically mixing epoxy & trying to find the best position for the jaw... once I felt I did, I wrapped it very securely. 4 hours later, I took the tape off, and it held! YES!!

So here it was friday night- the Jury for the Student Show was at 9 a.m the next morning & I had to work. Should I enter? It's a pretty strange piece, to say the least! 

But with the last little of bit of encouragement from my Micaceous instructor, I decided what the heck. I left my entry form, along with my finished piece in the studio~

(Now I did have a little panic attack at work the next day thinking "why the heck did I even enter... I've got to get in there & get it out before anyone sees it!" But, thankfully it was too late for that!)

Because, after all of that... YOU WILL NEVER BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENED NEXT!!! It is like the fledgling artist fairy tale! Not only did I get into the Juried Student Art Show, but I won First Place for Ceramic Sculpture!!!

:)

I am honored, a little shocked, and certainly excited to say the least!

Here is my piece in it's new home in the Foyer of the Art Building @ Santa Fe Community College~ 

It is quite fun (and quite an honor)to walk through & see it on display amongst many other talented works! The show will be up for the next couple of months, so stop on by if you get the chance!

:)

"Once"

(ps- Thanks to all for stopping by & reading this post, as I realize it's a looooong one! As you may know, I am quite a documenter of process... and I just couldn't leave anything out on this one! Perhaps I should've done it as a 4 part mini-series! Special thanks also, to both of my ceramics instructors @ SFCC, who encouraged me to keep going with this project & enter this piece!)

:)

Wednesday is Clay Day... Part 5~ My Special Pot!

I'm getting my "Clay Day" post out early, 'cause I'll have a long day at the studio on Wednesday as it's my last day to do actual work before the final firing next week. This particular pot is really special to me, because the clay is not a commercial micaceous clay from a big clay company, but clay right from the mountains of Northern New Mexico. (Ever since I started doing clay work, it has been a dream of mine to find my own clay... so this is the next best thing!) On a tip from our instructor, one of the gals from class drove up to purchase clay from Felipe Ortega, a very well known Micaceous Clay Potter here in Northern New Mexico. If you want to check out the work of a true Artist, check out his web page here~

http://www.felipeortega.com/index.html

I found this clay a bit more challenging to work with... I experienced more cracking and it didn't seem as smooth to sand & so forth... the commercial clay has likely been processed in such a way that it has more plasticity and is of a finer grain or something. Working with the traditional clay felt a bit like when I was a kid building mud pies...

:)

 So here's the building & finishing of my special pot in various stages. (Whereas my last one was the Charlie Brown pot... this one made me think of a Genie Pot... though I sanded & buffed it for what seemed like a very long time... no one appeared to grant my 3 wishes!)

I got a little "photography happy" shooting the finished pot! I just find it interesting how different it looks from different angles, in different settings and with different lighting. Creating pottery is such a Zen activity... it's a lesson in non-attachment, because so many things can go wrong at so many different stages. But, I have officially broke the potter's rule of not getting attached to your work. I love this pot... mainly I think, because it's right from the mountains of Northern New Mexico.

:)

I Have a Dream...

"Dreams are illustrations...from the book your Soul is writing about you."

~Marsha Norman

 I took Drawing 1 during my first quarter of returning to school last year to study Art. I've always thought that people had an innate talent for drawing, or they did not. I did not. My professor, however was brilliant about encouragement, insisting that drawing skills could in fact be learned. I never took to it much... but I felt it was certainly a good exercise for me, to show up for class each session & continue to work at something I felt I had simply no talent for. Notice that I have put LOTS of other beginner work on this blog- but no drawing... until now. For our final project we had to do a series of 3 drawings that represented something about ourselves. For one of those drawings, I chose to draw my dream home. As you can see, it is nothing special... a simple home with open space, (although in reality it would have a couple more rooms & an extra bath for guests!) I'm posting it now, because it has been on my mind for at least the last 5 years or so.... but even more so now that I am back in school. If anyone has been following this blog... you know that I have been struggling with my decision to return to school in terms of financial output. Each quarter I go, my savings is depleted more & more, and the further I am financially from some day having a simple little home somewhere out in the country (with a little Art studio- funny how I didn't draw in the extra bedrooms, but managed to draw a rather large studio!) I just question a lot lately if I am making the right choice at this stage in the game. It's not that I question going to school at this age (42)... who cares how old you are, & I really enjoy learning! I love making Art & exploring the different mediums & techniques to see what it is I'm good at, and what I totally suck at. It's just at this age, I think, "O.K, this'll cost me around 25-30 grand in tuition by the time I finish, not to mention throwing away money on rent..." (since I've been schooling more & working less, I seriously doubt I could get financed if there was anything I could afford anyhow!) I've already paid back the Government 32 grand in previous student loans which took a long time to pay off... sometimes working at jobs & locations where I was miserable... just getting through. I'm just trying to figure out if I'm making the right decisions for myself at this point in my life, or if I should go back to the drawing board as it were. No, I don't need a degree to make Art. And a degree does not by any means suggest I could actually make some sort of living from it. Honestly, I'm thinking I need to shift gears on what is really important to me. Having a home is so important on so many levels. The feeling of security, a sense of place, a place to rest & call your own. Having traveled for work the past 5 years, moving stuff in & out of storage every 2-3 months... I just long for one place where I know where all my things are! Even since arriving here last year to pursue school- I've packed up & left twice during summer & winter breaks to return to my travel job to make cash to continue. Damn if I don't want it all. A home, the chance to continue my Art Education, time to pursue my other dreams, (long distance hiking, traveling...) but for now, I'm just reevaluating & hoping that I can come up with some new idea on how to make it all work...

First a Glimmer...

I bought this card last summer at the Tesuque Flea Market near Santa Fe. It is by mixed media artist/poet/photographer Lisa Chun. You can check out her website & work here:
http://www.lisachun.com/
I love her work... a lot of the words she choses for her works resonate with me. It's hard to make out the text above. It says "This must be the way dreams are built, first a glimmer, something shaken down from the stars, something made from light & air & hope. Then comes all the days of quiet activity in support of it." So, this is the deal. I want to live my life creatively. I want figure out how I can make a living through being creative... I just haven't figured out exactly how to go about it. Sure, I have ideas... glimmers of creativity, of hope. Some people know exactly what they want, and how to go about achieving their goals. I had this idea years ago... pay off my student loans, figure out where I want to be (in this case, southern Oregon,) start taking art classes... and it would all fall into place. So, I've done all those things... but things have not quite fallen into place the way I thought they would. One of my classmates said to me "maybe you just have to be patient"... only I feel like I have been patient for years. So for now, I just continue the "days of quiet activity in support of it."