She Flies with Her Own Wings

The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but the inward significance.  - Aristotle

 I love the new year and the feeling of a fresh start. 2017 is starting off nicely for me as my sculpture "She Flies with Her Own Wings" was accepted in the the Tall Grass Gallery's "Wings" show that opens on January 21. I am three for three with dipping my toe into entering gallery shows. I still cannot believe it. this time I am one of 45 artists that were selected. I cannot wait to see the exhibit. 

This was my first attempt at a large sculpture and I was not at all sure I could get it to work. I just kept plugging along having faith it would all work out. I marvel at ceramic artists because there are so many things that can and do go wrong with this medium. Different clays shrink differently and even the placement in the kiln can effect what happens. I was amazed that the wings fit perfectly especially since the body was sightly over fired. The over firing also caused my matte glaze to become shiny. Sometimes you just have to accept what the kiln gods give you.  I found the flocked sticks online. The piece is 47-inches tall and sits in a corner in my family room. 

In thinking about what I want to accomplish this year, this sculpture does sum it up. I want to concentrate this year on creating and taking risks. I want to be fierce with keeping the focus on art. It will be a challenge, but one that I am ready to undertake. What do you want to accomplish this year?

Mixed Media

There is something about mixed media that makes my heart go pitter patter. I started a new series of sculptures with the intent of using my vast supply of things that I have collected over the years. She was well received at ClaySpace today. The piece deals with trying to find calm in the craziness life so often brings. The second piece which I am working to complete has to do with what we keep inside. The work makes me excited.

Since I committed to the 60 Days of  Crow/Bird challenge, I wanted to try mixed media too. The piece I did for it is approximately 6" h x 9" w. It includes interfacing, three different kinds of paper- tissue, watercolor and commercial paper, hand dyed fabric and hand dyed pearl cotton. It's not easy to see but the paper with the squares punched out has the words "everything is possible." I also wrote on it which is had to read but being able to read what I wrote wasn't important. I have been exploring handwriting for a while. Mostly to overcome all the negative remarks about my handwriting while in elementary school. I shared another crow fact- "A group of crows is called a "murder," a designation thought to date to the 15th century." The term is more literary or romantic than scientific. Crow experts usually refer to a flock, pair or family group of crows. Anyway, I painted the interfacing and the tissue paper. I want to do more because it was so much fun!

I am enjoying stretching myself in new directions. Today I was complimented on my fearlessness which made me happy. It is not that I don't have fear, because I do, it is that I no longer fear failure. I just want to keep learning.  What is on your list to learn? What makes you come alive?

Gaia- Making My Own Green

I continue to explore clay. For this one, I even made the glaze but she seemed a little too plain so I added moss, yarn, beads and tiny pinecones. The rock she is holding is a felted both by hand and with a needle. While gluing all the moss was a challenge, I do like the way she looks because I always envisioned her as being very organic. And spending time with something green seems fitting as our winter continues to hang out and St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner. She is approx. 24 inches tall.

Stepping Out of My Comfort Zone

You must do the thing you think you cannot do. -Eleanor Roosevelt

If someone had told me that a year after taking my first pottery/ceramics class that I would be creating sculpture, I would have looked at the person like he/she were crazy. It is still a work in progress but I wanted to share with you what I have been working on for the last two months. I think I have convinced my teacher that I don't need three detailed drawings to create. 

There will be a broken heart hanging inside the hole and a white crow on the shoulder. It is two pieces and will be epoxy together once it is all done. There are wings too. They are on the shelf waiting to be fired. They are bird like instead of angel like.) It was created in two pieces (newspaper separating them right now) so it will fit in the kiln. 

The piece is autobiographical. It deals with a lifetime of not being seen or heard by people who claim to love me. It also deals with coming to terms with life and finding flight. It has been an interesting experience and I will be creating another sculpture that deals with loss. 

Why clay? It is just another tactile experience, another creative outlet. I think pottery and quilts have more in common than one would think. There is the kaleidoscope of forms, colors, textures, sizes and function. There is traditional and contemporary. All I know is playing in the mud feeds my artistic soul. 

What feeds your artistic soul?

Gathering Grief Quilt

I am my own worst enemy when I think too much. In order to get moving on "Gathering Grief," I simply began and let the work speak for itself. I used a variety of textile paints and lots of cheese cloth.

Except for the stitching around the red, I plan to hand stitch the quilt with pearl cotton. If you look closely you will see the beginnings. There was going to be a hole in the middle, but I decided do reverse applique for stability. I actually like the way it looks.

It feels good to working on this quilt. As I work on this quilt, I think about the people I have lost recently and I am thinking about my next part of this series- "Gathering Joy."

I continually contemplate and journal what else I am gathering and whether or not I can create more for this series. I don't think I have been as excited about a series in a very long time.

My sculpture class begins on September 13. I am really excited and cannot wait for it to begin. I am sure I will find inspiration.  Wishing you an inspiring weekend!

Getting All My Vices in One Room: Gathering

Last September, I took up pottery/ceramics to overcome a bad past experience and to push my comfort zone. The story begins while I was living in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in the mid-1980s, I took a ceramics class at Louisiana State University. I had always loved and collected pottery so I thought I would give it another try (a class in high school was my first but only involved hand building). The teacher was not the most encouraging person on the planet. We used kick wheels and she did not embrace the philosophy that everyone is built differently and needs to figure out what works for them. She was more "my way or the highway" kind of teacher. She actually told me that I was not cut out for clay. I was young and believed her. Fortunately, she did not kill my love of clay. Taking pottery up again is helping me slay yet another dragon of my past.

I have been trying to figure out how to combine my love of quilts with my rediscovered love of clay. If someone had told me that I would be sculpting faces, I would have told them that they were crazy and yet, here I am. This is the first of my series. It's called "Gathering Stillness" because it is something I am trying to accomplish. Today I dyed the clay with indigo and the look is just about what I wanted. Tomorrow I will dip her again in the vat to see if I can get her a little more blue. And yes, I know that potters use glazes but who made up those rules? I finished the quilt that I will attach (the holes at the bottom) tonight and will share soon. Next is "Gathering Grief" then "Gathering Joy." I am so excited that I can hardly sleep. I love this new direction!

Update: I thought I would just answer questions here in case others are interested.

-I choose to do scarification because it has always fascinated me and I wanted to show that we all have scars.

-I choose to dye her because I was looking for an effect that I did not think I could get from glazes or oxides. I tested a feather I made first. I love how it turned out.

-This was my third attempt. The first one the top of the head shattered. The second one the entire head exploded in the kiln. With help from Jon, we figured out that it was the newspaper I was using. It was holding moisture. I almost gave up but the idea kept me moving forward.

This is my Off the Wall Friday post.