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On Monday I found myself stuck in traffic for several hours (two different tractor trailer accidents closed down two different highways). My mood shifted from frustrated (dozens of emails to answer and I needed to write a post for DAM, not to mention work waiting to be completed for the new class), to calm resignation, to grateful for the time to plan next steps and remember that I was only inconvenienced, not affected by the accidents. The Universe gives us plenty of opportunities – sometimes in the strangest places – our job is to remain open to them.
The Thieves of Time
It’s a new day today and Janice Parker’s porcelain and copper figures fit my mood. Perhaps the 3D illustrations of her original story The Thieves of Time, the Magpie and the Time Machine remind me of how my day unfolded yesterday. . .
The Thieves of Time, the Magpie and the Time Machine
Or maybe it’s just that I can’t help but smile when I look at these quirky characters. I think Parker uses an image transfer process to get her sketches onto the porcelain. Love it.
If Only Moving House Was This Easy
Love Me, Love My Elephant
A page from Parker’s sketchbook
Janice Parker’s website
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Myungjin Kim’s ceramic still life sculptures – many with scenes painted across several objects – are engaging, thought provoking and simply lovely to look at.
Still Life Vessel With Birds
Reflection Series I
Window View
Window View, detail
Still Life Vessels – Vanity
The ceramic artist builds porcelain forms then paints them with black terra sigillata before etching the final designs into each piece. The work comes alive when grouped together, allowing the viewer to conjure up their own stories as they look at the sculpture. Quite beautiful. Take your time going through the portfolios – the detail shots add real value to your viewing experience.
I make decision on what forms to make instinctively. The birdcage, bird nest, terrarium, perfume jar and lab glass jar are vessels that are curiously made out of a material that one can see through, glass, so one simultaneously sees the outside form and inside space. I am intrigued by this and I create outside/inside surrealistic dramas with multiple point perspectives related to the shape and usage of vessel.
Myungjin Kim’s website
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Graduate student Steve Belz, a 2012 Niche Award Finalist, combined hand built ceramic forms with rubber, copper and steel to create this unusual collection of abstract sculptures. I’ll be watching to see how he grows this idea after he finishes his graduate degree.
Assisted Nucleation
Bound
Twisted Synthesis
“I use manufactured elements in my work to create a tension meant to bring about a consciousness within the viewer, to open a dialogue about contemporary society’s association with nature. This discussion can raise awareness of the danger that our current situation poses.”
Steve Belz website
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Primitive. Modern. Minimal. Complex. All are words that can be used to describe Virginia McKinney’s clay and steel sculptures.
Cable Hung Disk
McKinney creates the work in two studios – the artist starts in her ceramics studio and builds the forms, then moves to her blacksmithing studio to forge the metal components and back again to the ceramics studio when it is time to glaze. The materials belong together in these sculptures – they serve each other well. A true partnership.
Small Habitats
Small but critical elements distinguish the habitats – doors and windows are almost a suggestion – leaving the viewer to wonder and possibly move closer to peer inside. Ladders lead us into some of the sculptures – perhaps bridging the gap between known and unknown territory?
Tall Ladder Small Disk With Bird
Double Arch Doorway
Detail
I often contemplate the definition of home. What is home? Where is home? Is it an internal state or a physical space? McKinney’s work offers a gentle resting place for my eyes as I ponder these questions.
Virginia McKinney’s website
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Yes, I’ve written about it before – my disdain for shoes makes my love of shoes-as-art seem odd and out of place – but it is what it is.
I don’t like to wear them or shop for them but I am fascinated by artistic interpretations of shoes and I own a growing collection of vintage shoe forms that make me smile. It is what it is.
Kate Hopkins-Searle hand builds decorative shoes from thinly rolled slabs of clay. She manipulates sheets of clay over a form, impressing patterns with hand carved stamps, draping the clay and adding pieces that look like fabric frills, bows and rosettes. Each individual shoe takes about 10 hours to make.
“It is difficult to explain my attraction to shoes other than it seems to be something shared with many women and is a theme I have been drawn to since making paper shoes as a child. . .” Kate Hopkins-Searle
“I am fascinated by the details of embroidery and beadwork and the drape and flow of fabrics and recreating the effect of these in clay.” Kate Hopkins-Searle
A peek at her sketchbook here.
Kate Hopkins Searle’s website
