“But now, O LORD, You are our Father, We are the clay, and You our potter; and all of us are the work of Your hand.” – Isaiah 64:8 Scripture has many references to God working us, either as individuals or communities, as a potter works with a piece of clay. I think most people […]
When I create a title for a particular figure sculpture I am working on, I have developed a practice of spending time sitting with the sculpture, letting the sculpture itself tell me what its name is.
It’s a step of faith to put a piece, representing days or weeks of work, into the kiln, close the lid, and bring up the fire.
My first actual responses to the self isolation and “shelter at home” of the CoVID-19 crisis came as a simple image in my imagination — a blindfold.
It’s impossible to ignore the impact of the recent CoVID-19 pandemic on our lives and the way we interact with the people we are used to having around us. As an artist, I am finding it equally difficult to ignore the impact of our current situation on my art and creative process.
Drawing dancers in their tutus, and the layers and layers of translucent tulle has always been a challenge for me … Trying to sculpt this in clay, … that was a technical challenge I had never been brave enough to attempt.
Fired terracotta clay, 12″ We live, so often, blinded by the darkness, both around us and within us. The light is there, but our eyes are closed to it. Then something happens, and we open our eyes. The harsh reality of the light both terrifies us, and calls us forward. We are faced with a […]
I have spent a great deal of time pondering the process of attaching a title to a piece. I wrote a post some time ago, bemoaning the title of “Untitled” which people sometimes use, and talking about the significance of a title as it becomes an integral part of the work, giving us a window […]
There is something very ancient, even primal, about working with ceramics and the process of earth and fire. As much as I appreciate the advent of computerized controls on modern electric kilns and the ability to precisely control the firing profile, with the resulting high degree of predictability in the outcome of one’s work, I […]
I have been fascinated by the image of the sheltering hands, and the different circumstances and postures which we bring to our position in those hands. From the figure huddled in a heap, to the child asleep without a care, to the one with the courage and hope to be able to stand up and […]
What is there in a piece of broken clay, a simple sculpture, shattered on the floor? On Wednesday, around 3:30AM local time, another devastating earthquake hit the area around the Gran Sasso mountain in central Italy. Early counts put the death toll around 159 and rising. The region is no stranger to earthquakes. In 2009, […]
One of our major assignments over the course of the Incarnate 2016 program was to create a series of five visual art pieces following a common theme, for the final exhibition. Each student had to develop their own thesis, plan the pieces in the series, and describe how they related to what God was speaking into their lives through His word.