Unless the art is a gift, specific to; ☆♡☆
So I might have to rephrase that -
I cant make a mistake in clay.
I only say it that way because I don't think mistakes exist, rather its part of a becoming.
if I had a particular ideal and was striving towards it... it'd be easy to find the mistakes (figurative sculptors, my heart goes out to you). But I like the discovery of a journey and find a finished piece is finished when its full of personality.
It's a friendly way to approach the making process I suppose. ... humanises the maturing of a work, as if it was becoming itself, rather than what I want.
This approach only really works because I have the distance between the piece, the kiln and me. A distance of time and space... could I call the kiln a nursery ?
Intense nursery!
But then - it would have to be - these materials have spewed from the core of our planet, as old as the rock itself.
When I think about the monumental scale that is referenced in ceramics - I feel a responsibility to communicate the link we have to our environment. Actions and reactions - we make it and everything is in a process of some kind. ... in flux
Yoshi Sodeoka made a torrential number of
GIFs like this on Google+ back in the day. (That day was 2011, to be
exact.) Each and every one of the psychedelica GIFs show a completely
different range of graphic movement—raining, exploding, melting,
draining, everything.Ok so I have a theory that clay is always moving, twisting and absorbing. In my head its like a really stiff sponge. I imagine that the glaze and glass can tighten the outside surface- sealing and cementing the sponge.
When its a slab of clay canvas and I only glaze one side - I am pretty sure that a crack is going to happen where the clay is thinned and the tension is sharp with a tight and crazed glaze. This kind of crack is one that happens after firing when the clay is absorbing the water of the air and the day.... not one necessarily about the temperature!
And so to counteract this potential weakness , I have started playing with resin - one that will absorb into the clays and be the room temperature glaze that balances the tension. By doing this I have a good feeling the piece is stronger and more resistant to knocks.... and it is yet another layer of chemistry to explore !
Although the synthetic nature of plastic does not bode well with my health.... I feel like synthetic works made of plastics are in a way cheating from the true and honest chemistry of ceramics.... but I have many more experiments to do before I start glazing both sides of the painting!
(It is an idea to play with for sure!)
Ha so back to business, or is it fun ? When It comes to art I can never tell.
Either way- it has sparked ideas of demonstrations of pouring glass crucibles into paintings - to actually paint wuh the liquid glaze - but these dreams are limited only by my facilities available to me.
I am hungering for a gas kiln and stoneware temperatures, as well as lots of space, raku tools and equipment , as well as practice time and finally an audience!
The plan is thrilling -
To make a few ceramic cups. Fill them to the brim with glaze and found glass. Have a clay canvas made and put it all into the firing (some normal glazes partially covering the canvas to act as an anchor )... the firing is to go to just below stoneware temps- to activate the glazes and make sure it all got sticky... then when it has cooled at about 600 - open up that bad boy and pick up the cups of glaze and pour them onto the clay canvas - all sitting in the kiln - and let it all goo around and flow in a wierd and crazy unusual way.... who knows - depending on the temperature intervals I could pour the glaze like sugar and spin it into something that branches out of the surface....
Perhaps into a window of glass itself...
Buhm buhm bahhmmm
