Every work of art has some sort of back story, or a story of how it has grown through the process. What are some of the ways this expression has impacted the people who have interacted with it?
The butterfly has long been a symbol of transformation, beauty, freedom and grace. In particular, it speaks of a transformation at the deepest level — not just a change in outlook, or a vague “hopefulness” that, “things will get better somehow”, but being fundamentally different.
This piece was a bit of an experiment in terms of technique. I do not normally use armatures in my sculptures, partly because if the technical problems of the clay shrinking and cracking when you put it over a static structure, and partly because it’s harder for me to “see” what the piece is going to look like when I just have the bare wires in front of me.
October is “costume month”, so Erin came in her new “Steam Punk” outfit, complete with a modified Nerf machinegun… and the obligitory dark goggles. This was a 2 hour class, so we had a little more time on the sketches, especially the last one (20 minute sketch)
Hope only exists in the presence of fear, uncertainty or despair. A muscle is only strengthened when it is working against some opposing force, so Hope becomes the place where we go to when we are threatened. The threat need not be huge or catastrophic, but it must be something that forces us to pause, […]
One of the realities of working with clay is… the fire. I did not set out with the intent of making a “Shattered” piece — I was just sculpting a figure. However, the creative process does not always go as we plan. At temperatures from 1607°F (875°C) to 2345°F (1285°C), there are plenty of things […]
Watching the stars… This was actually a “test” piece. When I originally bought the kiln and clay from a friend who was retiring from working with clay, there was one unidentified block of clay. I found that it fired to a rich, semi-gloss brown. I have tried to identify that particular clay body so I […]