This time five years ago, I was busily finishing my senior thesis, titled 'Distillates of Mother.' The sculptural process of figurative casting dominated my hands and my mind was occupied by the themes of motherhood, female identity and mortality and totems to physically embody those concepts. Clay was solely a conceptual sculptural medium for me then and though wrapping up my BFA, I was at the beginning my technical ceramic education (ongoing for the rest of my life).
This time one year ago, I was wrapping up my job at the Corcoran in the ceramics studio and busily packing to move out to Rappahannock County full time, looking ahead to working for myself as a potter. My hands have been dominated by shaping a home and shaping the clay into functional work. 2013 brought some sculpture with mainly functional work. Every week since that move, I have felt fully that the move was right and have been so thankful for being able to jump into my creative process completely in such a beautiful place. After having a job facilitating others' work in the clay, it felt wonderful to actually work in the clay myself, be it a cup, bowl or plate. Functional work was not my initial calling to the clay but I fell in love with all of clay's possibilities and was happy for any making with it.
Ten months have passed since my move and I've begun to think about the next year and how to bring my sculptural and functional work together in my studio practice. I have continued to think about these same concepts of my initial work and made drawings over the last few years but working in real life versus working in an academic environment changed my focus as economic pressure outweighed the creative muse. Most artists face this. The question for all of us is how to marry both interests. I realize the answer is most likely just do it and then let the connection become clear. My husband proposed that I give myself a rule of 25% minimum time spent in the studio is for sculpture-- quite the gift to myself but also a fair commitment to the work that feeds me creatively.
The last weekend of April brings a firing in an anagama wood kiln. The second weekend of May brings a firing in an anagama-noborigama-cross wood kiln. The work is due for both kilns on the same day, reminding me of how final projects at the end of a semester felt. With the end of my 'semester', I am looking forward to the next year, looking back at old work to find new inspiration. There will be more sculpture, the form unknown; a resolution, if you will, seeking to resolve questions, projects, forms...
This time one year ago, I was wrapping up my job at the Corcoran in the ceramics studio and busily packing to move out to Rappahannock County full time, looking ahead to working for myself as a potter. My hands have been dominated by shaping a home and shaping the clay into functional work. 2013 brought some sculpture with mainly functional work. Every week since that move, I have felt fully that the move was right and have been so thankful for being able to jump into my creative process completely in such a beautiful place. After having a job facilitating others' work in the clay, it felt wonderful to actually work in the clay myself, be it a cup, bowl or plate. Functional work was not my initial calling to the clay but I fell in love with all of clay's possibilities and was happy for any making with it.
Ten months have passed since my move and I've begun to think about the next year and how to bring my sculptural and functional work together in my studio practice. I have continued to think about these same concepts of my initial work and made drawings over the last few years but working in real life versus working in an academic environment changed my focus as economic pressure outweighed the creative muse. Most artists face this. The question for all of us is how to marry both interests. I realize the answer is most likely just do it and then let the connection become clear. My husband proposed that I give myself a rule of 25% minimum time spent in the studio is for sculpture-- quite the gift to myself but also a fair commitment to the work that feeds me creatively.
The last weekend of April brings a firing in an anagama wood kiln. The second weekend of May brings a firing in an anagama-noborigama-cross wood kiln. The work is due for both kilns on the same day, reminding me of how final projects at the end of a semester felt. With the end of my 'semester', I am looking forward to the next year, looking back at old work to find new inspiration. There will be more sculpture, the form unknown; a resolution, if you will, seeking to resolve questions, projects, forms...
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