Un petit bowl. A small bowl that just came out of my last firing. The French have a nice way of saying small, but the word bowl stays the same. This is what I named this particular creation. I love that it can fit in the hand that made it.
You can see the decorative coils I have added to the edge. Why not create some interest? This is a high fired porcelain clay body, which means it can be heated in the stove or even microwave. Naturally, it is totally food safe.
The white color you see is the actual clay showing through a clear glaze. I use this color scheme often, as I think it shows off the form and highlights the contents.
I added an iron oxide to create the contrasting color on the outside, where I have added an organic pattern. Living here in Sedona AZ, we look up at he red rocks which are colored by this oxide. Inspiration from the outside in. I like the juxtaposition of the smooth inside and the textured outside. This is a theme I use on most all of my handmade pieces.
Today I share with you, le petit bowl. Comments are always appreciated by this blog writer!
Here I am standing in front of the large wood burning kiln at Reitz Ranch. This was the former home and studio of the well known ceramic artist Don Reitz.
I was fortunate to have known Don, in the casual way that clay artists see each other and talk shop.We both lived in the Verde valley for a long time and our paths would cross. He was a very funny man and really liked conversation. I took a workshop from him years ago, and as the wheel was turning, Don was talking.Neither stopped for long. He liked to work Big.He was probably best known for his salt and wood firings.Hence these kilns.
He can be credited as taking ceramics from the world of craft into fine art, along with his peers, such as Paul Soldner, Peter Voulkas, Dora DeLarios, and Michael Frimkess. I knew the latter two artists from my days in Venice, California.
Now Don's legend lives on. Another ceramicist, Sheryl Leigh Devault and her husband, Ted, have bought the ranch and intend to continue the world of clay to those who are interested. I feel Don would like this concept.
Here we have my latest Goddess figure, all smooth and sensuous. She stands about 14 inches tall, including her lovely hair.
I have always been drawn to the female form. Working with clay, I prefer a certain abstraction in my design. Everything does not have to be exactly like our bodies, and everyone is unique, to be sure. It is the concept and the different imagery with which I like to work.
This lovely lady is made from my preferred clay body, porcelain.That is especially useful when it comes time to burnish her to a fine sheen. I use horsehair for her decoration, and made a little beaded necklace for adornment.
The first firing is in my regular kiln. Lastly comes the pit firing, using wood to fire. The results are full of surprises. I am happy with the play of dark and light browns; the bronze tones; the hint of metallic flashing here and there . She's a Goddess, and she does what she wants!
Here are the gorgeous books created at a workshop I recently taught on the Art of Japanese stab bindings, using hard covers.
Mine are the two on the bottom left with the green trees, and under it, the cover with the fishes swimming. As a calligrapher, I got into making books by hand.That was the technique used long ago, before the printing press. Everything made with care and precision, the book and writing, both art forms.
My other book on the top right has the purple and green flowers. This has a more complicated form of stitching. Look at the contrast of the thread on the brown cover in front,which really shows the finished pattern. A lot more complicated than just two holes! These are experienced book makers I am teaching, so it is always a challenge to know more than your students.
Japanese stab binding has a long tradition, and were usually made of rice paper. Each hole has to be sewn at least two times, front and back, to complete the pattern. The sewing is always begun other than the first two holes to make the knot less obtrusive. For this lesson, I chose the hard covers, mat board covered in decorative paper.The six hole design is a real challenge. Therein lies the art!
Here is one of my latest creations I call "Words on Clay". A ceramic plaque, using porcelain clay as my canvas, with words in a somewhat calligraphic script. I use a small brush and cobalt blue oxide to create this image on the clay. It is then covered with a clear glaze, and fired to a high temperature. It could last longer than I do, as it hangs on a wall.
These are not my words, but those of the noted Irish play write and author, George Bernard Shaw. He live to almost 100, so he had many pithy writings. Since we are in a new year, this quote seemed to be a fitting message to myself, and others.
It is a brand new time, 2019; another step in this progress we call life. With all the challenges in today's world, maybe it is good to remember to take the time to play more.
For me, this can happen when I am in the studio, writing out my words on clay, or when I am travelling and play is the destination. Now, if I can just remember to live each day as if I am on that vacation...And you ?
Here is another form of Tango.This ceramic box is in my current show entitled " Spirits", at the Jerome Artists' Cooperative, about forty miles from where I live in Sedona, AZ.
It stands about seven inches tall and four and a half across. Large enough to store a treasure or more.
I've always loved to dance and started studying Argentine Tango some years ago. Tango colors are red and black.Here the couple on the top are very well matched.They dancing in what is called a " close embrace."
Tango is really a very disciplined dance. When you get good enough you can play more with your style.
I knew I wanted to do something to celebrate my dance for the show. I guess it is part of my " folk art" style , which are often containers.
This container is made of porcelain clay, which is fired to a lower temperature in order to use these bright colors. Afterwards, it goes into a primitive firing to get that nice crackle and patina. One always must hope that the delicate dancers stay standing, which these two did.
The art of ceramics always involves the unknown, just as the tango has that element of surprise.
Here I am in Claude Monet's gardens outside of his house in Giverny. Finally after so many years of visiting France, I was here, in person.
As you wander through the gardens, seeing all the colors of flowers ,plants,water in the ponds, it is easy to see how he could paint his " impressions" of what lay before him.
Giverny is a Very small town. In fact you have to take a train to Vernon from Paris, and then a bus or the " little train" eight kilometers to arrive there. What a clean little town.Flowers everywhere.
It was a popular summer retreat for many painters,including Americans, but Monsieur Monet was the best known in town. His visitors included Mary Cassatt, Cezanne and others. Now there are other French artists who have galleries along the one main street. It was fun talking about their art, in French, with them.
Monet bought his rather large house in 1890, after he started selling in America, then bought more land nearby for the Jardin d'eau, the water garden.The house is pink with green shutters.In 1916, he built a large studio, which I think is now the gift shop. Here he worked on his large canvases of the ponds and water lilies.They are now in L'Orangerie museum in Paris. Each canvas covers a wall.
It was fascinating to watch the wind play with the lilies on the water, while I sat on a bench and just observed. The green leaves would stand up like little butterfly wings, and then lay down again. I think maybe that is one of my fondest impressions of the Garden in Giverny.
