Here is my latest mixed media creation, "Windows of Words." Nine, small metal boxes covered in handmade , or other intriguing papers.Inside are provocative quotes and I even wrote a poem myself.
It is now showing at the Jerome Artists' Coop Holiday Show in Jerome AZ. for December 2019 and January, 2020.
As a professional calligrapher for the past 35 years, I am always collecting quotes; tin boxes; papers and more, and then some more..... Remember opening those little windows at holiday time? This was my theme. The wood has a slightly tree shape if you notice. Using several alphabets such as Roman , Uncial and Italic it was fun to interpret these sayings in a different style. I invite the public to stop by and explore this interactive art.
Here is a fun little pitcher from my latest firing.My hand shows the relative size.
As I went to the icebox this morning to add milk to my tea, and I had to lift up the whole carton, I thought " a pitcher would be a handy thing about now". But not this pitcher, this one goes up to the gallery.
All around the base are the hand carvings of the red rocks of Sedona, AZ, that I see outside my studio. I have also incorporated this design into my mugs , with the turquoise glaze, and the oxide to color it.This is high fired porcelain clay so it can go into the stove of microwave.I used a clear glaze inside so the contents are visible . It is actually the clay itself with a clear glaze over.
Of course it is totally food safe. Standards are very high in our country for glaze materials. Who knows what you get in a store or which country they are made in and what are their rules?
Since this is our Veterans' Day holiday, I would say "Support
our service people... and your local artists! "
I just unloaded my kiln and found this little jewel, my
"White Porcelain pueblo". It is made from porcelain,
This style of my handmade bowls came from my artistic imagination and the environment I live in.The color you are seeing is actually the clay itself, with a clear glaze over. I like the smooth, modern feel of this basic image.
As I say in my description tag, "...This is the view from outside my studio here in Sedona, AZ. I see our town, or pueblo, red rock silhouettes , cactus, and critters .The outer stain is the red iron oxide that colors our red rocks." There is a bit of artistic license here, but truly this is what I see all around me. The critter is a little snake, which lives somewhere around here, even when we don't see him.
I find with clay, it often tells me how to shape it. I make this style in three sizes. All fit so nicely in your hand, and the clear color shows off food or other items one might hold within. Although there is a similarity in my style within this series, each pot is totally a one of a kind, signed by yours truly, V. Norton.
This is me at a local lake in the white mountains here in Arizona.With the rain, I am garbed in my poncho and hat. It is always necessary to be prepared when one is at an altitude of 7,000 feet. What causes these trees to be so green? Yup: water.
Off in the distance are Canadian geese eating out at their delicious cafeteria. Native wildflowers surround me. The smell of the pine trees waft over the breeze that comes with force, and then dies down. This is my first time to explore this area, and I am enchanted.
I write in my artist Biography : " I draw my inspiration from the native landscapes, people and animals, to create my present and evolving works in clay". Here is nature painted in a broad brush stroke. I am in awe of all the different climate in my home state. I am filled with gratitude to be here.
I am surrounded by the White Mountain Apache tribal lands, which are left mostly natural, except for those black cattle you run into on the back trails. They have a casino and I did explore into their towns. A lot of change in the last 100 years, is all I can say.
I guess I wrote about this area because it is nature in a rather pure form and that is good for my head, my soul, and I hope my art.
Isn't this a cunning use of beads of many colors and dimensions? I've always made jewelry from my ceramic beads, but this past year I have added other sources to my new designs. Each set is a one of a kind.
There are the four bone pieces that add a touch of tribal look to this. Then come the brown beads made of tigers' eye stone. I find these a little dense in color, so adding the yellow glass beads gives them a nice contrast with the variations of the tigers' eye.The necklace is @ 16" in length, and the earrings have a nice ability to catch the sun and make one feel well dressed.
I like the immediacy of making this jewelry. With clay it takes a month to make it, then it has to be fired once, then again high fired to finish it. Here the time is in choosing, trying, rejecting, trying again until finally, the whole pattern pleases me. It is now for sale in a gallery, but I can tell you how to find it.
