The Gallery: Clay 1
|
|
Text and Artwork:
|
I love clay! I have ever since I was a little kid digging my own out of the clay banks in pasture and woods I grew up near. Clay is at once incredibly simple and yet at the same time incredibly complex. I love the way clay melds not only artistry and craftsmanship, but also chemistry, physics, and the studies of history, archeology, and anthropology.  White Rose 4.5" Dia. Every spring, my dad has gone out and celebrated the reawakening of nature by painting flowering fruit trees.... I believe his habit may also contain concepts of human renewal and our ability to bring beauty back, even after hard times. My own childhood ritual of spring was to find the first trillium blooming out in the woods. When they were out and in flower, I knew winter was finally over. Like clay itself, this ceramic flower is simple, yet not. It is made from a single slab dusted on one side with red iron oxide and accented with celadon glaze. 
Can Mountains Contain the Sky? 8" x 7" x 5" Vessels...containers. It is one of the concepts that is truly fascinating. What does it mean to contain something? Is a container a harsh, dictatorial boundary? Is it a a limitation imposed for safety's sake? Is it meant to keep things out? Is it meant to keep things in? Perhaps it may be a little bit of both. Could a container actually be meant to further growth and expansion? An egg, after all, is a container which protects and nurtures the small embryonic bird developing within. This box is on one level a reflection of memories of Montana and the difference between eastern Montana (Big Sky country) and western Montana with its rugged mountains. It also has a more philosophical layer of meaning (at least to me) revolving around the containment of the human spirit. Can Mountains Contain the Sky? is slab-built earthenware clay and with underglaze painting on the outside, with no covering glaze. The interior is glazed with a honey-colored low-fire glaze.  Blue Honey 2.75" H. x 3.5" Dia." Blue Honey is a little, simple coil pot. I like leaving coils much as they are, showing the structure and growth of the pot as it was formed. With this pot, its size, weight, and glazing make it a real little gem. It fits comfortably in the hand and draws the hand and eye into exploring it further. The honey glaze inside accentuates the rippled marks were the
upper coils were welded to the lower ones. The exterior has a light blue underglaze rubbed into the
crevices between coils with a dark, grayed blue glaze applied heavily at the rim smoothing down to a
very light application toward the foot. The underglaze goes all the way to the bottom edge of the foot.
 Triple-Slip Pinch 1.5" H. x 4" Dia. Pinch pots are great little things to play with. If I am having a bit of trouble thinking of what I want to do next or how to approach a certain step in a project, sitting still and pinching out a pot gives me the time to contemplate what I want to do next. Triple-Slip Pinch evolved out of one of those times. For some reason, it reminds me of an inverted ice cream sundae. Triple-Slip Pinch is peach-colored mid-range clay with white, light blue, and dark brown slip. Both the interior and exterior are covered by a clear transparent glaze. |