Bike Wheel, Spinning and Not Spinning

wheel piece completed in winter 2014

Last year I made a bike wheel piece that spins, but I made one big mistake. the colored bulbs on top are just set onto the spokes. When I had this piece at June Art Fest last summer, someone pointed out a bit of information I had missed: spokes can come out of the wheel rim.

new wheel bulbs with underglaze partially complete

So I had to make another piece, this time with holes in the bulbs for the spokes to go through. I also added textures to the bulbs because my mom told me to (and you should always listen to your mom).

two wet clay bases in progress

I also made some new bases, with chains like the first base, but I played around with textures and additions to these bases.

new wheel piece with bulbs being attached

I had the bases and the bulbs in place with time to spare before my show, but transporting the bike wheel piece to Seattle didn't go so well. On the first day of setup, I discovered that the wheel of the new piece wasn't staying on the base.

new wheel piece in CORE Gallery

I ended up at a hardware store that night minutes before they closed. I ran in with half the sculpture to get a bolt to attach the wheel to the base. Unfortunately, the bolt I got wasn't the best bolt. I epoxied the sculpture together that night, but in the morning it seemed to be listing dangerously to one side. 

check out the shadows under the wheel

The bulbs on the wheel are attached so that one side is a bit heavier than the other. As time ticked away and I was ready to leave the show and drive back to Yakima, I finally decided to err on the side of stability. I ended up adding epoxy so that the wheel no longer turns. 

new wheel piece and old wheel piece

Though I worried about it off and on during the days after I left Seattle until the night I returned for the Art Walk, the sculpture stayed upright. I left a sign on the pedestal instructing viewers not to touch, and the piece is visually ok and probably a bit better than last year's piece.

second base with chain being epoxied in place

But I intend to conquer this piece. I still have one more base at home that's ready to go. This weekend I threw some replacement bulbs. Since I think I need to fill the gallery again in a year, I am thinking I will need to streamline some of my forms, so no texture for these bulbs.

wet clay bulbs before the spoke holes were attached

My show continues at CORE Gallery in Seattle through February 28, 2015.

Wall Installation at Mechanical Botanicals

I spent the weekend in Seattle for my show at CORE Gallery. Mechanical Botanicals will be open through the end of the month. 

"Ericano Diversia"

The reception on Thursday evening for the Pioneer Square art walk was much more fun than I expected. It was raining mod of the evening, but there still was pretty steady traffic into the gallery. I didn't really stop having conversations with visitors until after 8pm. 

a view of most of my work in the gallery (and one Mark Callen painting)

Of all the people to come in, only one single guy was unpleasant. Everyone else was nice and complementary and interesting to talk to.

I didn't sell anything, though I might have if I had priced my gridded wall installation as 100 individual pieces. A few people told me my prices, were too low, but when it's followed up with no sales, I'm not sure I can believe that market wisdom.

wall installation detail view

I had to be in Seattle on Saturday to watch the gallery and I didn't feel comfortable driving back over the pass that night, so I cancelled Friday's class and visited a number of galleries and art museums in the area on Friday. 

The Jason Walker exhibition at Bellevue Arts Museum was quite good, as was the Anne Drew Potter lecture at Pottery Northwest on Friday evening. I also got to meet Tip Toland which was pretty cool.

It rained most of the weekend so I was lonely in the gallery on Saturday afternoon. I took lots of pictures of my work and sketched some plans for next year's show. Late Friday evening it occurred to me that I'll probably have to fill the space again next year.

This year's show had 11 sculptures and two wall installations that I made over a year and a half including my sabbatical time and two summers. Next year's show will have to consist of mostly new work and somehow I'll have to make it in one year with no sabbatical time. Time to start building.

"Mechanical Botanicals" opens this week

The view in my side of the gallery

I set up my show in Seattle this weekend. "Mechanical Botanicals" opens (officially) on Wednesday, February 4, 2015. The First Thursday Pioneer Square Art Walk is Thursday night from 6-9pm. I will be there for the Thursday evening event and I will be in the gallery from 12-6pm on Saturday. The Gallery is open Wednesdays through Saturdays from 12-6pm. 

the view in the door of CORE Gallery

This is my first show at CORE Gallery (117 Prefontaine Place South in Seattle for those of you entering it into your GPS). This was a nice space in which to install. The gallery has bright lights, a locking door and plenty of space. Often I've installed shows only when the gallery director or staff is present. It was nice to install without a time limit, and without someone watching or waiting for me to make a decision.

drilling holes for the first wall installation

I brought over a lot of work. Last week I brought some stuff in one vehicle. This weekend I filled a second car with my work and loaded extra borrowed pedestals into the truck bed. On Saturday my husband helped me drill holes and install hooks for my 100 piece wall installation. When they brought my second car load, my daughter and her grandparents helped hang most of the bulbs on the hooks.

the gridded wall installation

We unloaded all the work on Saturday, arranged pedestals, installed the grid of bulbs on the wall and put up the vinyl signs on the window and wall. I picked up the signs on Saturday morning from Sun Signs in Tukwila. They were great. The guy came in on Saturday just for me and was so fast that I was out of there just minutes after we'd arranged to meet.

preparing to put up my window sign

I thought putting up the signs was neat. They go on, as my daughter said, like a temporary tattoo. But mostly I just thought it was fun to have my name on the window (and wall) of the gallery. It makes the show feel very official.

second wall installation

On Sunday I planned to come in, double check the set up, perhaps install a second wall installation, and adjust the lights. I ended up rearranging the pedestals three times before I was satisfied. I did install the second wall piece, but I called in my husband to adjust the lights. Apparently he is capable of standing on a ladder with his hands above his head without breaking out in a cold sweat.

partial view in the gallery

I swept up the gallery, removed my boxes and packing materials, emptied the weekend's trash, and left Seattle during the first quarter of the super bowl. The pass was eerily deserted on our way home. I'll be heading back on Thursday, but I don't think I can hope for any highway clearing distractions to assist with that drive.

Latest Gear Stack Piece

Next week my show, Mechanical Botanicals, opens at CORE Gallery in Seattle. Since this week is the last chance I have to finish work before installing this weekend, I am trying to finish a few pieces.

 

the new gear stack piece after bisque firing, unstacked (left) and a gear stack piece from my sabbatical

This past summer I started a new gear piece similar to some I had done during my sabbatical. I wanted to create as similar form but with a more complex base. My sculptures are inspired by plants and flowers, so I wanted to reference a stem branching or splitting from the central form.

a gear stack piece from my sabbatical

Like the earlier gear pieces, I built this form in sections, planning for gears to nestle and attach between the different ceramic segments of the sculpture.

part of the new gear stack piece after glaze firing

During the summer I built and fired the work. I started applying underglaze in the summer but wasn't ready to put the forms together until this month. Last week I started epoxying together the gears and ceramic parts.

tape holding the top on the split bulb

I used tape and armatures to help support the forms while the epoxy was setting.

a towel and box acting as an armature to support the end bulb and gear while the epoxy sets

Unfortunately, it wasn't until the entire piece was put together that I realized the unfortunately angle, placement and proportion of the smaller branching form. I am also disappointed in how straight the top section is. I may have put together the top form or forms incorrectly, but it's hard to recall what the entire form looked like, since it was hard to take pictures while also holding up the wet pieces.

The new sculpture, mostly complete

One innovation in this piece was splitting one of my bulb forms near the base so that the gear could fit inside it. The plan was good but the smaller segment warped during drying or firing and now the curve is a little more narrow and taller than the area where it needs to attach.

two sections of the split bulb, with epoxy

I used epoxy putty to fill in the seam of the two bulb pieces and painted over it. The paint color is a close match, but there are some visible brush strokes because the paint was a little thick when I applied it.

epoxy putty roughed into place

This sculpture is close to "finished," needing only another coat of paint and some gloss varnish to complete the bulb patching. However, I haven't decided if I want to include the piece in next week's show, since it didn't work out quite how I planned.

the bulb with the patched seam

Epoxy Time

I have a show in Seattle next month, Mechanical Botanicals at CORE Gallery. I had originally planned for this show to feature sabbatical work from last fall, but I was also hoping I might finish some new work this summer. The short work time of the summer months doesn't leave me quite enough time to build, glaze, and put together the complex mixed media work, so I have tried to get it glazed and fired during the academic year.

A clean table surface makes it much easier to clean and organize the parts.

During January I finally got a chance to start putting together the bike parts and the ceramic parts. It had been months since I was planning the pieces, so I had to remember which pieces went with which gear or bike part. I also had to clean the metal parts because several had clay finger smudges on them from when I was building.

Ceramic pieces laid out to measure attachments with bike parts.

None of the pieces are completely finished yet, since all have several levels of attachments. I put one level together and let the epoxy set before it is strong and stable enough to attach the next level.

  

Two levels of one sculpture taped or braced against the windowsill for stability.

A big change I made this summer was on my attachments for my bike wheel piece. I build the bulbs to be slotted in place, so I had to unscrew the spokes and feed them into the holes of the bulbs. I added a bit of epoxy so that they wouldn't slide around.

Bike wheel with spokes passing through the bulbs.

Mechanical Botanicals

My first show at CORE Gallery in Seattle opens next month on February 4, 2015. The show runs through February 28 with a reception for the Pioneer Square First Thursday Art Walk on Thursday, February 5.

My show will feature work from my sabbatical, and, if I get things done in the next two weeks, new work from this past summer.

I will be in Seattle for the first Thursday Art Walk from 6-9pm. The gallery is open Wednesday-Saturday 12:00-6:00pm. If you would like a postcard (and I haven't already gotten you one, send me an e-mail with your address. I will also plan to get some to Larson Gallery on Tuesday.

Tape Lines

A while back I ran out of thin tape, the kind I used for taping lines on mugs this summer. The tape was something my husband had already. It looked like a roll of very thin blue masking tape (painter's tape) but it had a shiny surface, more like electrical tape. 

tape resist mugs (from the summer)

I went to buy some more, thinking I could find it at Ace Hardware or Lowe's but I wasn't able to find it. Since I didn't want to wait and I didn't want to drive all over town, I went to Schuck's Autoparts for car detailing tape. I got two different thicknesses, (I didn't get any flames).

auto detailing tape (resist)

I used the new tape this week and was amazed by how much easier it was to use. Other than the difference in color, it didn't look much different, but it behaved very nicely. It stayed on the surface of the pot without wanting to pull off, I could lift and restick it when I made a mistake, and I could even wrap it inside the mugs easily.

auto detailing tape applied to a bisque mug

The old stuff would act like it was in place and only later would I realize that it was pulling away from the walls because the tension was too much for it. I can't tell if the new stuff bends into place easier or has more elasticity in the tape itself, but either way, I'm glaze I have it. It took less time, and certainly was less frustrating, to apply.

auto detailing tape applied to a bisque mug

The one thing I will change next time is the color. It's hard to see the white tape on the bisque ware mug. However, once the glaze has been sprayed on, the white and the blue both show up fairly well, especially with the light colored glaze.

glaze sprayed over tape resist

I use the tape as glaze resist. I apply it to bisque fired work and then spray on the glaze over the top. The glaze doesn't stick to the clay that is masked by the tape. I can then peel off the tape, leaving a clear line of unglazed clay.

glaze sprayed over tape resist

Since I want the interior of the mug glazed for easy clean up, I can either spray clear glaze or a colored glaze over the first layer of glaze after removing the tape resist. Both colored and clear glazes interact with the initial glaze at least a little. Last time I tried this, I liked the contrasting results I go using this method.

peeling off tape resist

I can also leave the exterior unaltered and the resist lines unglazed. This simpler approach leaves the exterior with contrasting color and texture, though the difference is hard to see in a photograph.

glazed mugs after tape resist (old kind) was removed

This last glazing round, I had two types of tape on my mugs. The new tape worked very well, leaving clear distinct lines with smooth edges, especially with the reddish glaze. The old tape left wiggly edges where the glaze had leaked behind the tape, especially with the gray (Green Float) glaze, which was more watery than the red (Camel) glaze.

glazed mugs after tape resist (old on the left, new on the right) was removed

The rough edges can be cleaned up with a knife, but part of my goal in this glazing method was to add visual contrast without significantly increasing my effort level. The second type of tape was easy to apply and I didn't have to clean up the edges much, so it's the clear winner.

glazed mug after tape resist (new kind) was removed

I only have one mug from this batch out of the kiln. The rest go in Saturday. The glaze below is the reddish glaze (Camel) with clear sprayed over after the tape was removed. This mug was done with the second type of tape (the better kind), so the lines are fairly clear.

Glazed mug after this week's firing