Here I am at the Sedona Film Festival, 2020. I must confess I am a total movie fan and always have been. My Mom would drop me off at the Saturday matinee. (probably respite for her, also)
I often wonder if it was the movies that subliminally influenced my decision to move here after just one week?
Once again, back when I was a young girl, I would stay up for the " late show". I think I saw every movie ever made here. Jeff Chandler as the noble Indian; Debra Paget as the lovely captive. All very politically incorrect , but boy did that influence my desire to ride horses, and go out to the wild west.
I did have a long stop over in Los Angeles to go to university and live at the beach and start to be a working artist, both in Clay and Calligraphy. Once again, a movie town.We were too " cool" in Venice beach to pay attention to the movie people, which is why they liked it there, I think.That and the movie called Life that seemed run every day there with all the unusual "assortment" of humanity.
So here I am some 35 years later , going into the wonderful world of of every film festival; Learning new things and being transformed into new dimensions. The art of film.
Here is a sweet choker I made using my own porcelain beads along with real Arizona turquoise and small crystal chips.
I guess you could say this is a necklace that comes from the earth.
Using a white porcelain clay body, I am able to roll it out to a very thin consistency.
I work with very basic tools, the rolling pin among my favorite. Many lucky ceramicists have fancy slab rollers. I don't. After working with clay so long I seem to feel when I have arrived where I want to be. If not, I do it over.
Next I add the texture.The "how" is a bit of a professional secret. Choosing several lengths of a "somewhat" consistent nature, I cut them off with a very sharp edge and let them dry out somewhat.It is best to clean them up when they are in this "leather hard" stage. I smooth off each end with care, but sometimes they break. Tedious work.
As you can imagine it takes a Lot of beads to make any necklace, bracelet or earrings. And I do all three so there are sets, as well as individual pieces.When dry, they enter the kiln for the first " bisque" stage. After that, there are not so porous and I can add the iron oxide stain.There is a final, high fire stage to make everything totally hard. I think these beads will survive longer than we do.
These are colors of the red rocks of Sedona, AZ. , where I live and have my studio. No two beads are ever exactly the same, and the small differences make each piece a unique creation by yours truly, V. Norton
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.
