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.

Politics / Protest Mugs

A screaming Trump with his wall. I like the face, but the wall is boring.

This past summer, when I began working on my 30 pieces in 30 days project, I had originally intended to make three sets of 30 pieces, because, apparently, I like to give myself too much to do. I did finish and display a set of 30 abstract bulbs and a set of 30 politics bulbs, but I wasn't able to finish the mugs.

A (poorly lit) detail shot of my abstract bulbs at Columbia Center for the Arts. As far as I can tell, exhausted me from the summer never even took a decent photograph of the other installation.

The concept I was playing with was the contrast between sides. In the abstract bulbs, I simply created contrasting textures and colors on either sides of some of the bulbs, but for both the political bulbs and the political mugs, the original plan was to create imagery that represented contrasting political perspectives on opposite sides of the same piece.

The opposite side of the "wall" mug. I'm reasonably happy with this side.

If I remember, correctly, I abandoned the reversibility of the bulbs when I realized that some of the more sculptural forms would make the bulbs difficult to hang both ways. The extra depth of the sculpted parts would force the bulbs to hang at a funny angle or not at all. Eschewing the reverse side sculpture also allowed me to close some of the bulb fronts.

I didn't glaze this one yet, in part because I'm less happy with it's opposite side, the Obama "Hope" poster.

But the mugs work as reversibles. The handles are the automatic hook for hanging, and the handle is automatically some distance from the decoration on either side. The depth of a nose won't cause them to hang much differently than they would with a flat surface. Also, the forms are larger, meaning more space for some of the sculpted forms. 

A diagram of two alternate setups for the same mugs, with A side displaying one political perspective and B side another. Each mug has an A and a B side.

I have to admit, the ubiquity of the mug form for a potter, and the fact that people buy mugs, was also part of the appeal. I teach Functional Pottery all year so when I get to the end of the year, I have trouble stepping away from the functional forms. I can't tell if it is just familiarity or if it's a result of the fact that I spend the entire year trying to get students to think critically about form, function, handle shape, rim definition, and surface decoration. After harping on about it all year, I think I need to make the forms I'm bugging them about.

This one has a male dominated side and a gender equity side, but its a little trite and a little boring. It might work ok as a supporting actor for related mugs, but I'm not excited about it. there are some flaws in the glaze on the rim and handle, too.

I abandoned the mugs this summer when I'd made only about 15. I had simply taken on too much work, as I'm wont to do. and I realized that to finish the other two projects, I'd have to drop something. The mugs weren't working as well as the bulbs, so I stopped building and didn't even glaze them. I also knew I'd have to fire the mugs separately. (I was using a cone 6 throwing body and planned to use cone 6 glazes, but the bulbs were done with two different low fire sculpture bodies that I finished with the same low fire glaze.)

The opposite side of the gender equality/inequality mug.

I finished some of the mugs in December in the days I had off between the end of the quarter and our holiday travels. I took the pieces out of the kiln just before we left and mostly wasn't happy. The motifs didn't work as well as I'd initially planned, regardless of color, but I was also unhappy with some of the glazing.

One of the exciting things about the bulbs that I decided to avoid in the mugs is the use of mixed media. If these mugs are functional, they can't have holes, materials that aren't able to be washed, or undercuts that can catch water. The result is more subdued decoration.

I didn't glaze everything. Two pieces had cracked, two were too complicated to finish in a few days and I'd left one blank because I planned to paint the decoration, but I can't now remember what I was planning to do.

The idea for this mug is the two favorite amendments of the two contrasting political parties. The second here and the first, above, but as is, this just looks like guns randomly stuck on a mug. 

I'm still halfway interested in trying to finish the project, but I need dedicated time. The political or protest inspired pieces are simply more taxing mentally than the abstract pieces. Working on the abstract pieces is repetitive and relaxing and the results aren't controversial, so I don't stress about how people will react.

The glaze was either too thin or underfed on this mug. I was too lazy, too, on my glaze application. This one, on its own, probably put me off writing about these for over a month.

With the political pieces, I know I'm going to make someone unhappy if I'm doing what I mean to do, but the worst result is if people don't know what I'm trying to say. I'm afraid I've accomplished that (a lack of clarity) with some of the mugs, and in general the mugs I've finished are, across the board, more disappointing to me than the political bulbs. Some of the mugs simply feel cheesy and/or amateurish.

This one has protestors and placards on both sides. The decoration is ok, but it felt like too much work to glaze it in December. I'm glad I didn't, too, because I'm unhappy with the contrast I got from the commercial celadons in the text mug above. Instead I'll use underglaze like the gender symbol mug earlier.

The pieces I still like the best and that I most enjoyed making are the screaming faces. They're fun to make and they also feel like they capture the mood of the country right now. I've been toying with the idea of making an installation composed exclusively of screaming faces. And really, who doesn't want a screaming mug right now?

These two are my favorites. The screaming person is the opposite side of the screaming Trump above and who even cares what is opposite the birth control, because the color worked well. I used underglaze for both and the color is much more what I want than what I got with the celadons.

I think I will eventually finish the mug pieces. During the year I've got a day job that takes a lot of my mental energy, but in the summer I think it might be worth it to push past the unpleasantness and the failure of some of the mugs to see the whole set installed together. Though I'm disappointed with the current results, I'm not totally over the whole idea.

Mixed Media Additions to Political Bulbs

bound hands

Seven of my politics bulbs in this group have mixed media additions. I added these after the pieces had been glazed and fired, but I had planned for them from the beginning. The bound hands piece was one I started early in the summer. it was one of the first of the political bulbs from this batch. I always intended to use a zip tie to bind the hands and thus I built in space for the zip tie to go into the bulb. The hands attach to the bulb by the arms and the edge of both palms for stability.

separation of church and state

Another piece that I envisioned from the beginning was the rosary covering the capital building. I wanted to reference the power that Christianity has over so much that happens in politics in our country, despite the supposed separation of church and state. In execution I am pleased that that cross ends up in front of the capital.

birth control is basic healthcare

In some cases the mixed media additions aren't going to make the work more clear, but they do serve to make the work more interesting visually and textually. The IUD bulb has a braided string (like the real thing), which isn't strictly necessary to communicate that I'm talking about birth control and family planning, but it adds color and size to the bulb without fragility.

kids in cages

The jail cell or cage bars, made from painted toothpicks, are integral to the structure of the piece. It would be possible to fill the cell with ceramic objects and make the bars from clay attached to the walls of the bulb, but it would be difficult to paint the interior pieces. Plus, I simply hadn't finished the inside pieces when I made the rest of the bulb. Attaching bars later seems to work fairly well.

inside the cage are a bottle, teddy bear, and pacifier

The pieces I am least confident in are the gun themed bulbs. Part of my hesitation to talk about them, especially online, is that I have a gut feeling that some guns rights nuts are likely to invade my online world and tell me I'm a terrible person who doesn't understand guns and because I don't love the second amendment I should be shot.

guns are patriotic

I intended both of my mixed media gun bulbs to reference how integral guns and gun violence are to US society. The gun nuts, and I here I am referring to the unquestionable nuts who make other people's lives unpleasant both online and in person, equate total personal armament with patriotism and any types of restrictions on gun types, access to guns, quality or size of guns, guns in public, guns in schools, guns carried openly in a blatant attempt to confront and cause controversy are automatically suspect and met with loud, violent, and unceasing hostility.

guns are inescapable

In part because of the baggage that comes along with guns, gun restrictions, and questions about the second amendment, I am less confident in these pieces. I also wish my rope was darker.

Rude Bulbs

The coat Melania Trump wore to meet immigrants who had been detained and separated from their children said "I really don't care do u?"

This summer I ended up making more rude bulbs than I initially intended to for this summer's political bulbs project now up at Columbia Center for the Arts in Hood River, Oregon. Some of these are rude because the news was rude. Some are rude because I just felt like being rude.

What fills a MAGA (Make America Great Again) hat? Ice cream or poo?

I was happy to discover that even what I considered to be the rudest, most childish bulb that I have ever made, flew just over the heads of the young people who were visiting my studio. I was relieved when one young guest identified what I meant to be the poo emoji 💩 in the hat as soft serve ice cream.

Grab them by the feline

Another of my rude pieces is similarly subtle. I sculpted what I wanted to be a tiny hand (hence the large sleeve) holding a pussy cat. I thought this was a clear reference to 45’s infamous “grab them by the pussy,” but I have since learned that this needs to be explained. I hope that in the context of 29 other bulbs addressing politics and the current administration, the reference will be more clear.

Scream 1 and Scream 2

The first screaming face was initially done as a direct representation of an angry white woman in a MAGA hat screaming at a protestor. I both enjoyed doing the faces and thought they so captured the current political discourse so well that I decided to make more.

nasty language bulb

I had been thinking of word as snakes, flames, and things that take on a life of their own once out in the world. I hadn't specifically thought to do this as a bulb, but I had been thinking of something similar for some time. The mouth with rude, hateful word flames coming out of it, for that reason, is one of my favorites of this series. I didn't include eyes because I didn't want them to distract from the topic and because the bulb shape makes their placement a bit awkward with the mouth and nose in this position.

Mansplaining bulb

I apparently forgot to take a picture of one of my last two rude bulbs from this series. I've discussed the "Well, actually..." bulb before, but in a similar vein I wrote on another bulb. This one, without a photo, says "Hey baby, can you give me a smile?" I was looking for the a generic phrase that captured the misogyny, patronizing tone, and entitlement that we all know in street harassment. It makes me cranky just writing and discussing it. I realized after I delivered the work that I should have covered the bulb in something utterly disgusting, like vaseline, so that the bulb, like the street harassment comments themselves, leaves a lingering film of unpleasantness for those who get too close.

Art-A-Day at Columbia Center for the Arts

Daily Conversations, Art a Day opens at Columbia Center for the Arts in Hood River, Oregon on July 31 and continues in the gallery through August 31. Come see my work during the opening reception on August 3 or during the regular gallery hours, daily, 11-5.

my favorite abstract bulb, a yellow and purple porcupine abstract bulb

In preparation for this exhibition, artists were asked to make a new artwork every day for 30 days and also write about their process.

Patterns, based on the ceiling at the Yakima Yoga Collective

I made two sets of 30 bulbs each. One set is "abstract" bulbs. They are, in fact, mostly abstract, though towards the end of the building process I started making faces and hands which aren't so much abstract as random.

The second amendment

The abstract or random bulbs are in contrast to the other set of bulbs which are a continuation of a series I began last year and which I have alternately called political, protest, or patriot bulbs. Each one addresses something controversial in our nation, usually something prompted by the current administration's policies or rhetoric, or by major news stories in this country.

If you live in WA, your primary ballot is due August 7!

Taken together the political bulbs illustrate my own political views, but hopefully also leave room for interpretation and thoughfulness on some of the issues where ambiguity is possible or even natural. 

Hard to tell in the photo, but there are three colors in the bulb

The "abstract" bulbs, taken together, probably suggest that I was having fun with texture and color. In this post I've collected some of my favorites from both sets of bulbs.

Knit bulb (with ceramic bulb inside)

I enjoyed the abstract ones most when I tried something new, be it a new material incorporated into the bulb itself or a new sculpting or decorating technique.

front and back of the same abstract bulb from early on in the project

At one point I had intended to create contrasting textures on the front and back of each bulb in the abstract series, but some of my surfaces are too deep or complex to allow the bulbs to be easily hung in either direction.

second screaming bulb (abstract set)

As I mentioned, pure abstraction went out the window at some point in the process, and I prioritized having fun making the work over sticking closely to my original intent. Part of me wants to make faces and hands and maybe feet and other body parts for a whole series, but I'm not quite sure why.

just a random blue hand

Some of the bulbs also began to extend well past the boundaries of the bulb itself. The flower piece was fun to make and I'm pretty happy with the finished product, but difficult to photograph before it was installed.

flower bulb

I am unable to install this work during the assigned time, so I have delivered it to the gallery and they have installed it for me. I won't actually be able to get to the show to see the work until after the opening. If you are in the Hood River area, be sure to check it out (and tell me about it). The reception is July 2 from 6-8pm.

the bulb of nearly 1000 toothpicks

Underglazing for Art a Day Project

a coat of wet terra-cotta under-glaze on the screaming face, before wiping

I finished the building for my Art a Day projects early last week and have been glazing since then. Right now I have 50 pieces in the cooling kiln and the rest are being glazed today. 

abstract and politics bulbs used different clays

I made the two sets of 30 from two different kinds of clay. The abstract bulbs are made with a reclaimed stoneware from last summer and the others are made with a red mica clay that I thought was similar to the clay I used for last year's political bulbs.

the new mica clay and the old political bulb clay

As it turns out, the new clay is much lighter in color and more sparkly than the clay I had last year. They look the same in the bag, but last year's clay was a gift and I didn't replace it with the same type. My intent was to keep the tone of these political bulbs much darker than the bright layered colors of the abstract bulbs. Last year I did this, but I also had some issues with last year's clay looking splotchy. It may have been because I wasn't as careful as I should have been about getting light clay on the dark clay because I was working the same space or with the same tools. 

the new red mica clay with under-glaze inlay at cone 04

I also wanted to use a clay that is pretty itself because, unlike most of my work, I didn't plan to cover it all with underglaze color. The mica in this particular clay causes little sparkles to be seen on the fired clay surface. I wanted to use the colored underglazes and shiny glaze solely to highlight the textures, lines, and impressed letters of the finished pieces and let the dark, sparkly clay also be visible.

the new red mica clay at cone 08 (left) and cone 04 (right)

I initially bisque fired all the pieces to about cone 08. I was impatient and wanted to go to bed with the kiln off, so I shut off the kiln a bit earlier than scheduled. I was disappointed in the very light orange color of the mica clay at this low temperature. In the second firing I had a mixture of greenware to be bisque fired, some underglazed abstract pieces and a couple of glaze tests, so I fired to cone 04. The mica clay looks much nicer at this temperature.

bulbs and sprigs waiting to come out of the bisque kiln

I was given a bottle of clear glaze in a brand I don't normally use, so I wanted to test it on the new mica clay before applying it to the finished pieces. Immediately after bisque firing (at either temperature), the political pieces are clearly distinct from the abstract pieces. I tried to apply color and glaze differently, too. However, during building, some of the content started to bleed across the edges of the two groups as I worked. I ended up with faces, eyes, and hands done in both white and red clays and some of the pieces I made with white clay could probably fit in with the political group.

each bulb needs three coats of underglaze, so some are drying while others away their first coat  

All of the abstract bulbs required two layers of underglaze. I used mostly highly textured surfaces and I enjoy layering the underglazes one over the other. In most cases, I applied one color to the background texture, a contrasting color to the sprigged additions, and sometimes another color to highlight a dot or contrasting part of the sprig. 

two sets of bulbs with one or two underglaze layers waiting to be glazed

After this first layer(s) of underglaze, I fired all of the abstract pieces again. After the work came out of this second firing, I applied a second coat to most of the abstract pieces, then wiped it away incompletely. The fired first coat stays put when I wipe away the second color from the raised surfaces. This approach highlights the textures, because one color is visible in the deeper recesses of the texture or sprig and another color is visible everywhere else. Most of the abstract bulbs have 2-4 different colors of under-glaze, some have 5 or 6.

political bulbs and one "abstract" face with under-glaze waiting to be wiped

Because of when I finished building, I had some newly dry work to bisque fire as well as some abstract bulbs with one layer of under-glaze. I also fired some of the political bulbs with a wiped coat of under-glaze inlaid into the textures to see the mica clay color at that slightly higher temperature at to determine whether I needed glaze in addition to underglaze in the impressed texture areas.

a political bulb on top of some abstract bulbs, all have had the underglaze layer applied and wiped and are waiting for glaze

After I applied underglaze, re-fired, reapplied underglaze, and wiped the surfaces, in most cases I also applied a clear glaze to the surface. In the political pieces I will probably use a combination of fired underglaze with glaze and without. The underglazes I use are mostly Amaco Velvets which have a nice of a texture on their own, and at least one of my colors fluxes by itself at cone 04. 

under-glazed and wiped politics bulbs waiting for glaze

In a few cases, I added under-glaze color and/or clear glaze over whole sections of the political pieces to try to accentuate the subject and make it more recognizable. In one case I felt the MAGA hat just needed to be red, in the other case I felt the ice (ICE) needed to be glossy in contrast the the bulb out of which it projects. I used a satin clear glaze one the ice and the underglaze alone on the hat. The kiln is over 1000 degrees Fahrenheit now, so I won't be able to see my results until tonight or tomorrow.

clear satin glaze covers the ice cubes in "Melt ICE"