New work at Artebella Gallery for International Sculpture Month

New work, April 2019, now on display at Artebella Gallery

April 27 is International Sculpture Day and there are several sculpture events going on in the Yakima area. Boxx Gallery in Tieton is having a sculpture show (I'll have an installation in this show) and there will be an associated community event in the square that day. And Mike Hiler is showing work at Oak Hollow Gallery.

New work, Summer 2018 (not on display at Artebella)

Artebella Gallery at 1111 Spruce Street, next to Taste and See Deli in Yakima is having some events, including artists talks and a display illustrating the process of lost wax casting. The gallery owner had contacted me earlier this year to ask for new work from me. 

New work 2018-2019

When she first contacted me, I told her I didn't have any new work, but then I realized I might have time to make something before April. So I actually got myself into the studio and made something new this winter. Of course when I went to pack up to take her the new piece and a few older pieces, I realized that I did have two or three new pieces from the summer that I had forgotten about.

New work, Winter 2019

I pulled the latest sculpture from the kiln Saturday morning. I had tried a combination of underglaze layers and cone 6 celadon glazes. I was trying to create a sense of thickness and color variation that was a bit more subtle than the underglazes on their own.

celadon on underglaze, detail

I fired the work in my small kiln, since I was firing so little, but the kiln didn't quite reach temperature. Regardless, I was pretty happy with the results fo the firing. The blue celadon has some mottled texture on the top bulb that is only evident when you look closely at the work.

I was trying to get away with not setting up a backdrop for photos. This is the result of my laziness.

I used a blue celadon over two layers of blue underglaze on the main body of the piece. I used the same blue celadon over two different types of blue underglaze on the bulbs and I like the similar texture and different color result. I used clear celadon over the orange and cinnamon underglaze on the sprigs.

Celadon over underglaze (and a small glaze fault)

 The results weren't perfect, however. Two of the bulbs have small dry spots after firing. It looks like I brushed up against the side of the piece after glazing, but I am sure this isn't what happened. The strange thing is that I underglazed the entire piece, then bisque it. Three coats of blue underglaze were applied the entire surface, then fired. After bisque firing I added the celadon. So for bare clay to show up, both the celadon and the underglaze came off during firing.

New work, Summer of 2018, on display at Artebella

I've had similar issue in the past when underglaze has peeled off of a pot after glaze firing. This has happened a couple of times in the last few years. I think the problem is the fit between the glaze or underglaze and the clay body. I have never seen this issue on a textured surface, only on a smooth, burnished surface. I don't remember every seeing it with underglaze alone, but it shows up as brittle pieces of glaze (with the underglaze attached) cracking off the surface, leaving no evidence of either glaze or underglaze on the raw ceramic below. 

New to the gallery work at Artebella

Luckily, on this piece the glaze faults were pretty tiny little spots, but I think I do need to do some research into this in the future (though the thought of doing this does not fill me with joy). This is also something I occasionally see in student work, so it is worth it to figure out the problem.

new to the gallery work at Artebella

If you'd like to see my new work, or slightly older work, including almost everything pictured in this post, stop by Artebella Gallery at 1111 W. Spruce in Yakima. Tomorrow I will be installing some political work at Boxx Gallery in Tieton. More on that in a future post.