me and the mud

INSTALLATION VIEW

2012-01-22T11:41:00.000-08:00

My photographer (Dana Davis) works hard to get just the right light on my pieces, but sometimes the way it looks in a show is all the more powerful, more real, somehow. Last night four of my works were a part of a show that opened at Quicksilver Mine Co. in Forestville. the evening light was coming in low and I got this shot of WHITE BIRD caught in the natural light of a winter sundown.

READY FOR OUR CLOSE-UP

2012-01-09T15:11:00.000-08:00

I have been working on a series..I'm up to #8 and not finished with it yet. These are the first fruits ready to go to the photographer for their beauty shot. My series revolves around how trees in winter lose their leaves and reveal their true shape. I love the one that is bent over, but I have had no luck in the past getting it to read in a photo...maybe this time.

BACK IN THE BUCKET

2011-11-23T15:34:00.000-08:00

I worked for two weeks on this piece and I now know I have to just dump it into the recycle bucket. It's hard to say good bye, but there are fatal flaws I can't ignore. Ironically, the piece is about letting go and I see that by letting go of it I am fulfilling the concept I had hoped to convey with the artwork. This is my second try on the subject. I will try again.

REJECTED

2011-10-18T10:47:00.000-07:00

When you see a piece of mine at a show or on my website gallery, you are looking at the end product of much exploration and failed attempts. If the clay hasn't been fired when I discover the "fatal flaw", then the clay just goes into my recycle bucket. If it has been fired then it gets sent to my garden. If I just can't stand to look at it (big failures)... they go to my shard pile. Sometimes my worst failures are the starting point of my next success. If I don't push the boundaries of what I know, nothing new happens. I have learned to embrace failure as a teacher.

DEMO

2011-10-11T13:47:00.000-07:00

The Ceramics Annual of America was this past weekend and I want to thank all of you intrepid clay enthusiasts who braved the chaos of Fleet Week to get to the show. ( and my apologies to those who tried to be there and had to give up) Ft Mason officials should be hung from their heels for renting out the building for such a big event with almost no parking and traffic that would stop a speeding train.

I did a demo on Saturday and many times I had to wait while the Blue Angels screamed overhead. The air show was exciting...I would go out on the wharf to watch from time to time.

FOLLOWING THE MUSE

2011-09-23T17:54:00.000-07:00

I work in a very organic mode. everything is curves and torn edges. Recently, I had a sketch materialize that was about straight lines. The figure in slices that had hard edges. I brought it to life, but now what? It doesn't fit into my body of work...or does it?

FLYING

2011-08-28T13:09:00.000-07:00

It seems like i have spent the whole year trying to fly. My first attempts were mounted on cement blocks and secured by a piece of re-bar. I thought them very successful, but the block was cumbersome. Next, I tried hanging pieces...those turned out so ugly, they didn't get past the bisque stage before being discarded. Most recently, I have been doing pieces that mount on the wall and have no need for other support. I thought myself clever until discovered that they were bound to the wall and more static than most of my other work. Ah,me...what to do. Stay tuned.

PALO ALTO SHOW

2011-07-12T18:04:00.000-07:00

The Palo Alto Clay and Glass Festival was this past weekend. Thank you to all who stopped by to buy and to talk art. It's a lot of work and I sometimes (while stuffing my pedestals into my vehicle) question whether it's worth the exertion. The answer is yes because it is one of the few times I get to show exactly the pieces I choose (not what some judge in some show chooses) and I get to talk about what I do and how I do it with people who are genuinely interested. So thank you all...you make it worthwhile.

SURGURY

2011-06-20T12:48:00.000-07:00

I love the front of this piece, I love the back of this piece I even love the disembodied leg. But, I do not love them together. Fortunately, because I use paper clay, I can literally take a hammer to it and break the 2 halves apart. I think the leg will become part of a front-facing wall-hung piece and the back side will have a life of it's own as well. My new building method (more about this later) has brought me as many question as it has answers.

SHIPPING

2011-06-12T22:17:00.000-07:00

After you make the art, show the art, sell the art....now you gotta ship it. I recently have been learning a great deal about how to protect and ship my work. For my money nothing protects the surface of the piece like memory foam. I wrap strategic areas before boxing it with bubble wrap. Then this goes inside a second box. Ideally this outer box is just large enough to allow for 2 inch thick pieces of styrofoam all around. Fed X with 3rd party insurance is a good idea. I have used www.shippinginsured.com

NEW WHEELS

2011-05-27T18:05:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite "older" pieces. The surface lacks what I have been able to give my more recent work. So she's getting a face-lift. A new base to add stability and a complete re-firing to improve the surface. Hello, beautiful!

ASSEMBLING

2011-05-14T09:46:00.000-07:00

I have been building skyward with the the body parts I created in my first torrent of activity. It's much slower now as I consider how each piece fits into the whole. It must balance and work from all sides. I work on a turn-table so I can keep it flowing.

CLEAN STUDIO/FULL STUDIO

2011-05-04T16:12:00.000-07:00

I have been feeling the need to make something big. Maybe several somethings big. I felt I was lacking in studio space, but by cleaning off the cluttered work surfaces and putting a new top on 2 of them, I have made space for myself to work to the scale I had imagined. What I didn't imagine is just how exhausted I would become moving that much clay (about 50 lbs.) in the space of a few hours. Tomorrow I can start putting pieces together and see if I'm as clever as I think I am.

VOICES

2011-04-04T14:06:00.000-07:00

I am always amazed how things pop up for me in my sketchbook. I have a chorus from my early teens that tells me how worthless I am. My best efforts to quiet them has met with limited success over the years. Now, here they are in my sketchbook. Bwa-ha-ha! Your in my world now! I am making a representative piece and guess what....nobody gets to speak. A discrete little piece of tape over their mouths should do it.

MODESTY

2011-03-27T17:20:00.000-07:00

I am aware that art in public places like museums and galleries suffers from political correctness. naked forms are not easily tolerated. I am at a disadvantage because I can't imagine my figures with clothes on. Nudity has an honesty that I cherish...you can't hide anything.

I sometimes do male figures, but what about that pesky penis. My Dancer is beautiful, but will he ever be seen in polite company? As a joke to myself, I made a little a breechcloth for him to wear.

It can be easily removed....or lifted up for a quick peek.

CAN YOU RAKU

2011-03-16T10:30:00.000-07:00

I have been toying with Raku firing on some small test pieces. The first firing was pretty uninspiring because I couldn't wait to see the results and I kept lifting the lid of the smoke container. Yesterday I walked away and let it cook. Wow! the results were amazing. I want to take the result of these tests and do more. The surface is so blindingly bright that I had trouble getting a shot, but I think you can see how I might be seduced.

dried out

2011-03-11T14:33:00.000-08:00

Circumstances have kept me from my work and now that I have the freedom to return to my studio, I find that everything is dried out and cold. The muse is sulking and I will have to woo her back into my presence.

DOWN TIME

2011-01-27T16:04:00.000-08:00

Down time... those interludes when you either by design or by accident spend time doing not much of anything. This past December was such a time for me. I couldn't work in clay so I just sketched...I gave my imagination free rein and didn't think too much about how I would produce the pieces I was drawing. They were leaping and dancing and to actually make them, I had to reinvent how I support my work. My time away from clay helped me see how much I wanted to find a way to make it happen.

OUT OF CONTROL

2011-01-17T11:27:00.000-08:00

It has been a very interesting winter in my studio. I keep trying things and most of them have been disappointing at best, but it's the only way to find out what's possible is to try it. Right now I have a behemoth of a piece on my work table. I know what I want, but not sure how to get there. I learn every time I try something new, ...even if the whole thing falls down. part of my process is to be a little out of control. This allows the subconscious to dominate because the thinking brain is giving up and solutions occur.

IF IT DON'T FIT, DON'T FORCE IT

2010-12-05T17:16:00.000-08:00

Those words of an old blues song came back to me as I tried to fit this big piece in an already 1/2 full kiln. Luckily it's paperclay so I can repair it. I was anxious to fire the kiln because I'm trying a porcelain slip over the rather uninteresting surface of the paperclay. I should do tests, but I want to see this in full size.

HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS

2010-11-30T16:36:00.000-08:00

All my "children" have come home for the holidays and the accommodations are pretty crowded. I guess I need to build more shelves...or sell more artwork. the other device I use is to triage my work and decide who is no longer show-worthy. These pieces go out to my garden where I can still learn from them and perhaps recall them into service at some later date.

SMALL WORKS

2010-11-14T15:02:00.000-08:00

My big pieces use a lot of table space and they can't be moved while I work on them. I get antsy to work on something while I wait for them to dry between stages.

Earlier this year I saw a demo by Lori Alcott Fowler and saw how she did some great small scale pieces using metal in the legs. I am exploring the process and trying to make it my own. I allows me to work quickly and move things around while waiting for my large pieces to develop. I am always open to what happens along the way.

FULL HOUSE

2010-11-08T11:15:00.000-08:00

I have been working a lot lately. My work tables are full and the kiln is almost full as well. It's kinda like storing things in the dishwasher to get them off the counter.I store finished work in my kiln and when it's full, I fire it. I have been pushing my forms (perhaps allowing them) to be more abstracted. I take more license with anatomy and see where it leads.

FULL CIRCLE

2010-10-22T12:40:00.000-07:00

I have just had a brief affair with my old love, oil painting. As much as I love color, it detracts from what I am saying with form so I am back to thinking in earth tones again. That doesn't mean that a little bit of color won't show up. I think it enhances the piece if kept in the background. You probably aren't even aware of it unless you look closely... as in this recent piece.

The other reason to leave oil paint behind is a concern for my health. It's like bad love...toxic.

FINDING THE PAINTER

2010-10-13T22:05:00.000-07:00

I started painting pieces that I had resigned to the garden for one reason or the other. At first my attempts were too garish. The color was exciting, but it overwhelmed the piece. Then I did some undercoating and I experimented with a different approach to the paint application. I found what I was looking for. Color that excites but still allows the form of the sculpture to read.

LOOKING BACK

2010-10-03T09:14:00.000-07:00

I was reviewing my slides this past week and had the overwhelming desire to see my figurative work "in the flesh". So I pulled out some of the canvases and set them around my old painting studio upstairs. I thought I had left these works behind me, but I feel the need to try to bring it full circle by painting on my sculptures. I will choose something from my cast-off pile and give it a try.

CERAMICS ANNUAL

2010-09-17T09:05:00.000-07:00

It was a very special event for me. A huge room full of wonderfully diverse clay sculpture ( and wonderfully diverse sculptors) For the space of 3 days, we shared our work with each other and the thousands who came to view the show. On the last day we were running around like high-school seniors getting each other to sign our copy of the catalogue. If you would like to see photos, go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/23344094@N05/sets/72157624827884151/?page=6

GETTING READY

2010-08-12T07:53:00.000-07:00

I have been deciding which work will be show at the Ceramics Annual . My largest just came out of the kiln yesterday and the others are being fussed over, photos sent for the, catalog, pedestals painted, etc, etc. My everlasting thanks to John Toki at Leslie's Ceramics who has volunteered to transport pedestals. I barely have room for all the sculptures in my vehicle. All my pretty girls want to go to the ball and the coach will be full.

PUSHING THE ENVELOPE

2010-07-26T08:34:00.000-07:00

To date, I have not been very successful making big pieces. Anything taller than 27 inches must be sculpted in two pieces that will fire separately and then stack. The engineering is tricky...and I have to make it up as I go along.

I have big two pieces on my table right now and they challenge me to use everything I have learned. If I fail, the clay will be recycled and I will consider the time well spent because (as I have heard quoted) your failures teach you more than your successes. But there is a still small voice inside me that says "please let it work".

PALO ALTO SHOW

2010-07-12T18:29:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was the annual Palo Alto Clay and Glass show. Thank you to all who visited me.

The work of finishing the new pieces, building foam lined boxes for transport, and finally setting up the booth payed off for me when I saw my biggest and best on display. I liked watching people as they moved past my booth. My work has no neutral observers. It's either completely off their radar (they are looking for that perfect casserole dish) or it stops them dead in their tracks. The emotional quality I have worked so hard to foster seems to grab and hold the viewer.

REACHING

2010-06-24T10:03:00.000-07:00

I have been doing some risky pieces lately. I only try to do them because the same image keeps showing up on my sketchbook. OK, OK...I'l do it. Somehow the impossible becomes possible. I find a way to balance the piece and give it strength. The one on my table right now scares me. Every addition of clay to the structure seems fated to disaster, but somehow it works. I have to trust that the image came to me for a reason and that the energy will somehow fulfill itself through me.

ART vs CRAFT

2010-06-12T09:17:00.000-07:00

As I look for shows to enter, I steer clear of the ones labeled "craft". Is it a fair assumption that my work will not be understood by jurors with a craft background? Is form only understood when there is a function?

Earlier this year I had two pieces in the Mesa Contemporary Craft Show and one of them won a jurors award. On the strength of that success, I entered the RAC Innovations in Contemporary Craft and was rejected. I know there is no formulae for what any given judge on any given day will choose, but I do ponder the Art vs Craft conundrum.

BAD BLOGGER

2010-05-30T09:55:00.000-07:00

I have had the nagging feeling that it's been a long time since I posted on my blogsite. When I checked in I saw the evidence of how long it's been. The entry about building in sections showed the headless piece I was working on at the time. that pice is finished, fired, photographed and entered in a show.What I learned about this piece is that in adding the heads, I changed the nature of it. the single slab that holds the mask-like faces created a bond between the figures. The clay continues to inform me and impose it's will.

27 INCHES

2010-03-01T14:13:00.000-08:00

27 inches is the height (and width) of my kiln. To build larger than that, I must find artful ways to add a layer that can be fired separately from it's base. It's a skill I Haven't yet fully mastered, so I have been making pieces that fit in the kiln...a weak premise for creating art.

My new device (a bead dangling from a light fixture) tells me when I am approaching the 27 inch mark. I can, then, decide how to section the piece. It looks like this one will have removable heads.

SUNLESS TANNING

2010-02-19T08:18:00.000-08:00

Once in a while a piece will come out of the oxide firing with a mottled surface. I find this distracting so I will use whatever is at hand to smooth out that appearance. I have let go of the idea that only fired effects are valid. For me, the final appearance is more important than how I got there.

BIG NIGHT

2010-02-13T09:08:00.000-08:00

The paperclay symposium hosted a reception for the artists who presented and demonstrated their work during the weekend. The weather was unseasonable to say the least...it's Laguna Beach for god's sake and it's raining so hard that they are starting to worry about road closures.

It was so very interesting to see and hear how other artist are using this remarkable medium. They are my new extended family.

RAINY DAY

2010-01-25T15:06:00.000-08:00

Like laundry, warm from the dryer....unloading my kiln on a cold rainy day Is very satisfying. What happened in all that heat. Is everybody OK? Some get prettier and some fail to reach potential. Some surprise me. The series of three figures I used to work out a construction puzzle now look like a group that could easily go out into society. I learn to never judge until a piece is finished.

PEDESTALS

2010-01-02T20:36:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow I take down the Marin MOCA show. I had six pieces and more than a little trauma about how to display them to their best advantage. Most pedestals weigh more than the piece they display. And they're unwieldily, take up space in your studio, your truck, van or car. I had to make do with what I had and what I could borrow, but as this photo shows, a higher pedestal would have been better. I am on a mission to find a better solution. Lightweight, folding pedestals...Time to break the time honored tradition of wooden pedestals before they break my back.

THE WINNER

2009-11-01T09:51:00.000-08:00

When I finished firing my series, only one stood out as fully embodying my concept of "Voyager" She moves into the ethereal plane fearlessly and wins the name for herself alone.

KILN FULL

2009-10-07T11:16:00.000-07:00

I have just finished my first series. I usually create singles...or at most 2 versions of one idea. This time I followed my concept drawings to explore one idea. Each piece borrowed ideas from it's predecessor. the result is a kiln full of work has the same upward looking form, they make me laugh.

THE LAST PIT FIRE

2009-08-17T11:10:00.000-07:00

I took down a show this past week that has been up for a year. It consisted of my biggest (2 feet tall) pit fire pieces. At that time I was just beginning to put heads on my figures, so some of them are headless. I still love the effects of the pit, but I was reminded of the reason I had to abandon it when I picked up a piece and it crumbled in my hands. (not shown here)

Garden Wisdom

2009-07-08T17:36:00.000-07:00

It is a good thing to stop and smell the roses. Working in clay creates these intervals. Periodically I must step away and let my work dry out a little before I can push it further. Sometimes I take the pieces out to the garden so hurry the drying process. This is an important component because sitting among the perfection of growing things, I get a sense of organic order. I see that the energy of the plant moves ever upward in logical paths of balance and counter-balance. I can have no better template for art.

And the Kitchen Sink

2009-06-29T17:08:00.000-07:00

When I am building a new piece, it's always a little breathless in the early stages. I assemble barely leather-hard slabs with no visible means of support and when the whole thing threatens to come crashing down, I start searching for what ever is within arm's reach to prop up the clay. This time it was a coffee cup and a kitchen knife.

OVERCROWDING

2009-06-15T11:07:00.000-07:00

When I started sculpting, I was in love with pit fire and I have a large number of pieces from that stage of my development. The surface is spectacular! Every nuance of the open flame is captured. As my pieces got larger, I had to leave pit fire behind and because I no longer show them, I want to find good homes for them. They deserve better than gathering dust on the shelves of my studio. this Saturday, June 20th, I am having an adoption party. I will be giving away these exciting pieces to those who are interested in my work. Email me for details if you want to participate.

on the surface

2009-06-03T18:13:00.000-07:00

I just picked up my show at Quicksilver Mining in Forestville, when I put these ladies next to each other, I was struck with the degree to which I have experimented with surfaces over this past 6 months. I have used stains, oxides, underglazes, wax and even oil paint. I had the argument with myself about "pure ceramic art" and then I threw that concept out the window. For me it is all about the form and I will shamelessly use anything that gives me an exciting surface.

WORKING BIG

2009-05-15T14:30:00.000-07:00

Big, for me is anything I have to do in segments because it's too tall for my kiln. This is my first piece that is taller than the 27" of my scutt.

Because of the organic way I work, I can't just slice it up in the manner of Viola Frey. Instead, I have to come up with a solution that fits the open construction method I use. The paper towel marks the division between the two segments and I had to add a base to compensate for tipping. This turned out to be a BIG learning curve for me. Weight, balance, human anatomy all needed rethinking when I made this big jump in scale.

Feats of Clay

2009-05-09T17:20:00.000-07:00

This is a shot of my work as it is seen in the exhibit space at Gladding Mc Bean factory in Lincoln, Ca. My piece was shown in one of the giant (and I do mean giant) beehive kilns on the ground floor. This place has been making large scale ceramic products for 130 years. They have the molds for all of the victorian trim used on big buildings across the U.S. and they continue to do restoration work today. The only way to see the clay show is to tour the factory. Call Lincoln Arts at 916-645-9713 for reservations. It will be up until May 31.

Comparison

2009-04-17T18:23:00.000-07:00

It has been 4 or 5 years since I laid down my paint brushes and started making clay sculptures.

Sometimes, it's good to look back and see where one has been. The comparison is stark. I started with a vessel form that "grew" figures from the wall. At some point, I realized that the wall of a thrown pot was really a slab if I opened it up. This was a great discovery. I started working with slabs exclusively and it changed my process completely. I could now work larger, exploring the pose and discovering how to make expressive folds. As my pieces got larger, I had to abandon pit fire as a surface effect because the pieces were just too fragile. oxides and under glazes are my main surface treatment now.

The connection

2009-03-29T15:24:00.000-07:00

I was a plein air landscape painter for over 20 years and I have been puzzled by my "leave it all behind" jump into clay. I saw no continuity. Today I saw the connection. My landscapes always had movement. The brushstrokes looked as if blown by the wind, ever restless. My sculptures have a similar restless quality. They are always in motion. The figures twist and arch.

Paper Clay

2009-03-23T12:55:00.000-07:00

I love paper clay. once I started using it instead of the other traditional clays, I was hooked. You can add wet work to already dry pieces. That is what I am doing here. I rarely use horses as a subject, but now I see them as a spirit guide for me (in the Zuni tradition)
The horse is totally dry and I am adding wings of wet clay.

first day of spring

2009-03-20T15:50:00.000-07:00

This is the start of a new season. Much is happening. I am in several shows right now and the next push is to get new work started. The drying time for clay can be weeks in the winter so I am waiting to fire and having some trouble starting the next set as I contemplate my newly finished work.