Clay Things

All things pertaining to clay during my SIU education.

[ceramic-things]

Heather Mae Erikson, "Perfect Imperfections" 2015-16 Tumblr Assignment: 9 What I enjoy about this work is the choice to display it with the fancy food arrangement. It highlights the role that ceramics play in our dining experience. Plates can be decorative or purely functional, but I don't often think about how a less appealing plate might actually effect the way we experience our food. That being said, I do like this plate; the colors interact with the color of the food nicely and the concept is lovely.

[ceramic-things]

Shower Curtain Cup: colored porcelain, glaze, & laser transfers, cone 10 oxidation, 3” x 3” Tumblr Assignment #8: Andrew Gilliatt has a collection of designs with retro imagery that he uses for his pieces. That he uses that type of imagery on slip wear, a form of pottery that can be more easily mass produced, invokes the style and meaning of Pop Art. His pieces are dinner wear that you might find in a home, yet they have meaning behind them.

[ceramic-things]

Brett Freund Tumblr Assignment 7: When I first looked at Freund's work, I was immediately drawn in. The lighter blue glaze dripping down the side paired with the same glaze on the interior, the faceted base, the way it embodies earth and water. It all appeals so my tastes. After my initial reaction, I read a bit about how he thinks about preciousness when creating his pieces. He questions what makes makes objects like diamonds considered precious. I think he has some part of the answered because my reaction to his work was certainly that the pieces were precious. Also he got his MFA at SIUE. So that's cool.

[ceramic-things]

Forrest Gard, “Welcome Home” Slip-cast porcelain, underglaze, cast foam, wood, audience participation, Size Varies~ 20’ L x 12’ W x 8’ H (feet), 2014 Tumblr assignment #6 Gard's work is rather charming. His little bother was born the day before Gard's 20th birthday. Having a baby around retaught Gard what it was to play. He then applied that to his work and created objects from the stereotypical American childhood (baseball hats, toy cars, etc.) that adults can play with. The ceramic pieces that he makes are intended to be broken, giving adults the chance to play without care. Making the objects out of cast slip was a good idea for things that are meant to be broken.

[ceramic-things]

Bryan Czibesz - Re / Charting (installation view 1): Hand built, thrown, and 3D printed porcelain, glaze, 2014 Tumblr Assignment: 5 This is probably the first piece I've seen constructed with a ceramic 3D printer that I think is successful. Every other piece I've seen has been too messy or looked rather cheap. This piece however, is not only clean and elegant, but the printed pattern works with it, rather than being 3D printed simply for the novelty of it. The addition of the thrown part in the middle furthers the apparent thought behind the construction.

[ceramic-things]

Nicholas Bivins, "Saturday Morning" Tumblr Assignment: 4 Bivins' work is more or less what comes to mind when I think about slip casting and ceramic design. It is very clean and well designed. It's not the type of work that I am typically attracted to, but there is still much to appreciate about work that is that nicely crafted.

[ceramic-things]

A. Blair Clemo, Mantel/Piece 12" x 6' x 8" Porcelain, Luster, Wood. 2013 Tumblr Assignment #3 These works appeal to me because of their metallics and elegance. What further intrigues me, is the inclusion of mold seams. It plays against the traditional style of the pottery. Visually, I think the work would look better without the seams, but including them is a nice conceptual touch.

[ceramic-things]

Naomi Cleary, "Berries and Leaves," ceramic Tumblr post #1 This work is a good example of using the cast body to an advantage and designing around the medium. The diffetence between the straight white walls of the cup and the feathery details of the berries and leaves creates a nice contrast. The artist did a fine job using the lines of the twigs to tie the differences together.

[ceramic-things]

Sarah Tancred, “Hardly Any Work at All, detail” Slip-Cast Porcelain, Underglaze and Glaze, 21” x 144” x 2.75”, 2015 Tancred's pieces are so crisp and pretty. I'm not sure if she actually used jello molds to make her pieces or not, but they certainly look like they'd make great treats. Something about how simple and to the point this piece is really appeals to me.

[ceramic-things]

Cynthia Giachetti, “Centerpiece” Porcelain and handmade glaze cone 6, Katrina rusted flatware, antique column base, 28” x 28” x 12”, 2007

Tumblr Assignment #9:

Giachetti’s work, on top of being very visually appealing, is quite poetic. By using lost objects that were left behind after hurricane Katrina, she takes work that already dealt with “loss and potential for metamorphosis” and makes it even more lovely and heart aching. Her pieces are a fantastic homage to the disaster that happened in Louisiana.

[ceramic-things]

Jim Gottuso 6” diameter x 3.75” tall/^6 grolleg porcelain/^6 oxidation/while unfired, the surface was altered, then dipped twice in black, then red terra sigillata. A shellac resist was painted on in stripes. The exposed areas were etched with water and the piece was glazed. Tumblr Assignment #8 This time I chose someone who made pottery instead of sculptural works. I wanted to look at work that was clean and refreshing. Gottuso's work is just that. His attention to detail and skill with the material is very evident. The above piece is particularly beautiful. It's vibrant yet earthy tones are very rich, it's shape gives it a full and balanced feel, and the all around crispness is quite appealing. It is a very attractive piece.

[ceramic-things]

Lauren Kalman, “Devices for Filling a Void (Set of 6)” Tumblr Assignment 7 Kalman makes the viewer instantly uncomfortable. She does so not by the ceramic objects, but by the expressions of her models and the way they interact with the objects. It's an excellent example of how to use ceramics in more creative ways.

[ceramic-things]

Chang Hyun Bang, “Love” fired clay, glaze, 50x60x55, 2013 Tumblr Assignment #6 The way the artist writes about his work is very eloquent and done so with a diverse vocabulary. Reading about his work left me with a different impression than when I had initially looked at the pieces. At first I thought that these were pieces that were appealing in the formal aspects but after hearing what the artist said of his work, I got the feeling that it was all very pretentious. My opinion changed because talking of swine with such importance seems rather ironic and because it felt too over the top. There's nothing wrong with using a large vocabulary to convey your thoughts (intelligence should not be put down) but the way a work is spoken about can effect it's presentation. In this case, I believe that the writing style should have been more relaxed.

[cloudysherbert]

Angelica Tulimiero, “Action #1” Hand-built, stained stoneware, gas fired at 1280°C.

Tumblr Assignment #5

Tulimiero’s work caught my attention because it reminded me of a bunch of little beads. As a kid, I always gained great satisfaction by color sorting beads and by dipping my hands into large bowls of them, much like running your fingers through rice. The piece above represents both of those fascinations to me. Tulimiero expresses in her statement that her work more broadly explores the universe. However, for me, her work conjures up simple childhood memories.

[ceramic-things]

Holly Hannessian, “Touch in Real Time” Images from the Exhibition, Western North Carolina University Fine Art Museum, Cullowee, NC, 2014 Tumblr Assignment #4 In her statement, Hannessian focuses on the scientific context of her work but in doing so, creates a body that is rather sentimental. She breaks down one of the most common human interactions and dissects what goes on behind the scenes of a handshake. Holding hands until the chemical reaction occurs in the brain makes the resulting ceramic piece a tangible bit of evidence that two people bonded. It's like the chemistry behind love and it's quite poetic.

[ceramic-things]

Carol Gouthro, “Teapot: Anthozoa gouthorii Viridus” 7” x 13” x 7 “, Terracotta clay, handbuilt, press molded and slip cast with underglazes and glazes Tumblr Assignment #3 This work is very visually enticing. The bright colors, the attention to detail, and the pure organic form make it seem alive. Making something so solid appear to be alive is quite captivating. That the artist chose to represent a teapot, perhaps the most classic of ceramic forms, as something so organic is a lovely irony. This is work that managed grabbed my attention for multiple reasons.

[ceramic-things]

Karen Bolton, "Mandala" Tumblr Assignment #2 Bolton's process of creating is very well thought out and developed. The way that she compares maturing clay to the growth of a child's skeleton and mandalas to the complexities of children really shows her understanding and love for both subjects. The work itself is equally as captivating as the concept. Bolton uses an excellent choice of shapes and tones to give her work a nurturing feel.