Recent Sculpture: Vazoom

Vazoom, low fire ceramics and underglazes, 2021

This spring and early summer, I spent some studio time creating some coil-built sculptures. I glazed them this summer and thought I had posted about them already, but when I went back to review, I realized that I had never shown them finished.

Vazoom in progress, with other in-progress work in the background

This twisting sculpture was build in May, at least part of the time while I was sitting in a large group Zoom meeting where I was really just listening to the speaker. Around that time, the end of the quarter, building sculpture was a comforting, relaxing way to do something that wasn't teaching or union work. 

Two views of the work in progress show how different the form looks from different angles

I was going to say that working on these sculptures got me off the computer, but I guess that wasn't true if I was listening to a speaker on Zoom at the time.

from this angle the stem overlaps the base and there is negative space between stem and bulb

What I like most about this sculpture is how it changes as you walk around it. Because of the twist in the "stem" and the cantilevered top bulb, the proportions and form look different from different angles.

from this angle the base is hidden and both profiles are gentle recurves

I found, when photographing the piece, that I could capture about 6 distinct forms by rotating the work between shots. I could achieve even more distinct views by raising or lowering the camera on the tripod and adjusting the angle to come from above or below the piece.

As the piece continues turning, we see the base again and a shadow under the bulb as it leans forward over the stem

I've arranged the photos in this post to illustrate what I mean about how the work changes based on rotation. If you scroll down through this set of 6 images, you can watch the top bulb of the piece spin one way and the stem another.

Here we can see the depth between stem and bulb and the negative space between stem and oblong base

The irregular base also changes so that it the top overlaps or hides the base, creates a negative space between base and stem, or the base seems to point towards the viewer.

the elongated base points towards the viewer and the profiles are a little sharper

Unfortunately, as I noticed and mentioned when I was building the form, there is one angle or perspective where the transition from the stem to the top bulb bothers me because it is thicker than planned. I am bothered less by the glazed version than the unglazed version, but being aware of it, I do notice it if the piece is positioned in this way.

here most of the full base is visible again, but I don't like the thickness at the transition from stem to bulb

I love complex, bright, and vivid colors, so I used two layers of underglaze on each part of the form. The base was initially red or pink and the sprigs were initially teal with yellow highlighting the middle part. 

a close up of the sprigs and background texture after the second underglaze layer has been wiped away from the base

The sprigs were formed off of the end of an orange and the yellow  part is the hard bit that attaches to the stemm. After firing these first layers, I added a layer of purple to the base and red to the sprigs, then washed both off incompletely so that the second color remained in the indents, but washed away from the raised surfaces leaving both color layers visible.

an in-progress picture after the second underglaze layer has been added to the base but not yet wiped away

I decided to play with contrasting texture in the glazing, so I only glazed the sprigs. I used a clear glaze over the underglazes and had to be very careful to keep it off the base because wiping up any glaze drips would tend to leave them in the indents or force me to remove the second underglaze color as well as the glaze.

a close up of the base and sprigs completed

I believe I had to go back in an touch up the purple at least a couple of times. I also decided to add green dots inside the stamped textures of the background. I like the added visual complexity and subtlety, though it was perhaps a silly amount of fiddly work for something that you can only see if you get close to the work.

a slightly higher camera angle squishes the form in an interesting way

The top layered sprigs and the bottom separate sprigs use the same colors in the same order, but I like how the red wipes off differently when the pieces are clustered and layered together. I also think that what surrounds them causes the sprigs to look differently when they are clustered or isolated.

a close up of the layered sprig texture on the bulb

This piece and several other brand new sculptures that I've yet to post about will be on display (and for sale) over Labor Day weekend at my house for the Yakima Artist's Studio Tour on September 4 and 5 from 10-4 and Monday, September 6 from 10-12. You can purchase tickets from me on the day of the tour or beforehand. For more information, check out my blog post about the Tour or Artebella Gallery's Tour page.