FLAMES!

One of the gas kilns at greenwich house pottery

Dip me in Celedon

And so they were left out of my control, good luck my darlings.
I told the studio technician (there are four) that really every work of art at GreenwichHouse is actually a collaborative effort, artists and technicians working together... I have no control over how these two works come out, but I did dip them in glaze so they will have a more throughly covered surface... yes the kind I totally put down before, but am ready to see what the celedon really looks like, I think it will be fine, albeit a bit shiny.

The Pot

Test Tiles

The pot that became the test tiles will NOT be fired, I sadly have now reduced myself to Sundays at Greenwich house so do not have time to actually fire and glaze them... I am already focused on getting myself into City College which is in a few short weeks!!

Anyhoot, here are the greenware tiles.

The two new ones bisqued

White Clay

Even though I had the option to use white clay at Greenwich House, I decided not to and wanted to use the throwing clay, with its earthy tones and the sense of being sealed when fired to high temperatures.  The clay has a lot of grog in it and this shows through after being fired to cone 10.  When working with low fire, whether it be terra cotta or white clay, I prefer to use clay that doesnt have too much grog in it.  In fact, I am ready to move back to low fire earthenware white grogless clay, it is beautiful to throw, feeling like cream cheese, but without the vertical challenge that porcelain provides, and trims clean and when glazed in a thin clear coat, elevates my low fired work to a pristine and beautiful status, different from the earthy clay bodies of late.   I have a lot of ideas to work with including more severely alered pots that are cut, pushed in, and reattached before being sculpted on.   Also non sculptured pots that are more like sea shells in appearance.  So stay tuned, the return of the white clay is just around the corner.

Same Idea, same artist, evolution of style

Here I found interesting and quite cool actually that the white low fire pot of three or four years back juxtaposed with the dark high fire pot of today are really the same idea, the same artist (obviously), but different concepts on design and how to join the sculpture and the pot to make the sculpted pot. 

Obvious differences in color aside, both pots are wheel thrown, lines visible on the surface, both pushed in to create a depression on which to sculpt, both have flora and fauna, natural elements hand sculpted on, and both have the iconic female figure central to the entire composition.  Similarities end here, the darker pot on the left is a evolved version of the white one.  A present day, joining of worlds, the sculpture becoming more pottery, and the pottery becoming more sculptural, how?  The partially abstracted female becomes the opening to the pot in the new work, this is important, the disconnect between the figure is lessened because of this, also the pot is warped much more and the entrance more intimate, more feminine.  The composition is also different, true, both are females in what might look like gardens, but the new pottery has a composed scene, it is symmetrically composed and asymmetrically executed.  The bands of one type of leaf/flower meet with a border of frilled clay encircling the more rotund figure.  The white pot of yesteryear simply has a figure sitting on it, she is not integrated into her environment, both pots are awesome, but the new one represents abundance and safety while the older vessel gives the impression of loneliness.  Change is good.

Ceramc Vase Vessel

This may well be the last of its kind, I am so obsessed with the pushed in pots lovely feminine opening, squatted shape, and three dimensional canvas for sclupting that I have little time for forms like these with figures simply laying on the surface and not really connecting intimately with the pot itself.  That said, this is another well-glazed celedon which still allows the sculpture to be seen... look back at the first and second works from Greenwich House for comparisons. 

This vessell I especially love because she is not only full of life, but her pregnant belly is actually an unopened flower, the figure is actually a trio, growing from the same root, other whimsical beings spring forth, open and receptive children of the safe universe.

A little black slip in the mushroom bud

These titles are hilarious, a little black slip in the mushroom bud? lol
Anyhoot, check out these photos, remember clicking always enlarges them... or right clicking and opening in a new window (i think).  So here is the newest, sort of ground breaking for me because I think I love making mushrooms, they provide the phallic presense that these utterly feminine pots "need" and they are interesting natural forms which fit in with all the flowers and leaves, in fact the next one may be right mushrooms and left flowers, since right is masculine and left feminine.  The asymmetry of these semmetrical pots pleases me, also leaving the central figure plain on this pot really worls because it mirrors the outer framing of the pot which is unadorned, creating a sort of motif around the figure and in the pot.  The arms are still being used as the opening, linking pot and sculpture together and meshing the worlds.  As I said, I have explored the sclupted textured bars that I made in the last work and here have them as folds or layers which lead into an intimate space behind the figure where different things are going on.  The front of this vessell has a garden which spills forth with abundance of heavy forms which are just teeming with life.  The left side is full of birds while the right is devoid of them, instead having dargon flies.  Black slip was used in tiny amounts on my shell pot and I wanted to try dripping it, hopefully to get only a modest and subtle effect after glazing. 

Double Goddess

Now I must admit that I do not think, "lets make a goddess," when I create the women of the vases, they are figures, outstretched arms representing being open and receptive to all good, letting it in, not really women but allegories to the unseen like the safety and love of the universe, surrounded by natures bounty of abundance.  That said, this is still called double goddess because the figures have their hands up above their heads just like the archaic symbol for the goddess, and lets face it, something is working through me to channell these female figures, and they are most definitely a modern tribute to feminine energy, goddess, universe, mother nature, god, whatever you want to call it.
This work of art is fascinating because I did not use any wheel trimmings to create the little fungi shelves which have been prevelent in my works, everything is handmade and there is a lot going on.  The hand represents the hand thrown and hand shaped clay art itself, fruits of all sorts represent abundance, and birds and flowers and plants are the natural world, allusions to suffolk virginia when miss Fannie Earls (aka grandma) intruduced me to the real natural world.  The textured clay on the right of the figure in the photo (our right) is something I want to explore further in future works.

Hello, I am a Test Tile

Why didnt I think of that???

All the pots I have been spending hours making only to throw into the reclaim couuld be made into test tiles!  Break em up scotty!!!!
This work will soon be in pieces, but its a good thing because I will be able to make test tiles which allow me to branch out into the different glazes I may otherwise not even try (being careful after the spotted shino/temoku disasters, I mean experiences).

The Big Blog of the Glazed High Fire Ceramic Sculpture Pot

Step right up ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, click the photo for a larger view of the latest and greatest, proof that things (just like life itself) just keeps getting better!  This is the FIRST work from Greenwhich House that I acually am very proud of and LOVE, its the glaze that really really put me over the moon and I hope you enjoy it, the celadon came out precisely as I hoped, dreamed, and planned!