Vase update Summer 24

Here are some picture updates on the vase project. Things are coming along well, and as of today (7.2.24) I have the first vase in the kiln, glazed and firing. But here are some steps to get there:

The finished vase in plaster form

The rubbering of the vase. The reason for rubbering the vase was that in the event of making the mold from the plaster form if the vase got stuck in the mold I would be able to recast a new vase and start the mold making process anew.

The making of the mold of the vase

And a casted, but unfired clay positive that has since been bisque fired and and glazed.

rubbering the mold. Smooth-on is great product and unfortunately they are not sponsors of this website or blog.

multiple layers of rubber are needed

deciding on my mold lines

This is it, no turning back from here

some mold pieces needed to be recast, but an overall success

This is it, its in the kiln and on the 3rd I’ll get to see the first fruits of my labor!

Update

Hello,

I have not disappeared. I have been prioritizing things above this blog, and that is of little consequence to those out there.

Here are some important updates:

I am in the process of finishing the vase. It is important to note the tension I feel in this project. I want to be done now. However, in it taking a long time to finish I have the ability to see the unfinished project on many different days and carefully consider the next step. Several changes or I might call revelations have come from this process and I think will make for a stronger finished product. When I am unsure about a section, I usually put down the tool and leave, allowing a refresh to give me an answer later. I do hope with subsequent works this process will speed up some as I get my footing.

I am still invested in this project. It is the only one that interests my artistic motivations. I would not call it a passing fancy. So If you are reading this, and when I am done. If you would like one, you may feel certain that I will continue this project.

It is a strange thing to have my past work on this website, but up there as my work is shifting. I am thinking about ways to remedy this.

Last thing, I am continually and I feel more and more deeply aware of how joyful my family is. My children are my treasures. As nearly anyone can attest, children demand so much time, but it is time spent well. My wife is my joy. There is no person on this earth who I would want to spend time and build a home with.

Naturally, the ultimate joy of the blessing of this family from God, does at times, come at the expense of working on this project. So I must be patient. Pictures to follow.

 

Mold-making journey

My practice has recently taking a turn to encompass more mold making and slip casting in my practice. The reason is I am interested in the model making and mold making process not as a process of mass production, but as a process of being able to refine a singular model and then create a limited run of that model. I like the idea of multiples so that there can be a family of very similar objects that are collected, owned by multiple people and that in turn connects those people together as well as to me.

I made my first mold when I was under the guidance of Dave Swenson at NDSU, but didn’t really take to the practice until I was shown by my good friend, Josh Clark, while in graduate school. Whether because of Josh is a generous person (he is) or because the bonds of friendship made him feel obliged to do so when I asked he show me (maybe both? ha), I learned most of what I know from Josh, who is excellent in this field. Follow Josh on Instagram at : @Joshua_r_clark_89

Also, there was a guy who graduate the year before me, his name is Yunwook Mun, and he made molds that were from another level of reality and his work is absolutely exceptional. The guy is amazing and his work is definitely worth checking out: IG @yunwookmun

So as I will be sharing some process photos of the work I am making you’ll see a departure from the hand-building process I had been primarily invested to make work. Likely I’ll marry the two in some way in the future, but I just have to let that develop.

The pictures below will likely not blow your socks off, but they are things that have been operating in the background as I have pursued strange and challenging molds.

New beginnings

Hey everyone,

If you’re here that means you get to be here as I chronicle the new direction of my work. Or at least you will be going back and time and see how this artist in the middle of the US went from blob-like ceramics that wrestle to riffing off of a Greek vessel.

As someone who is deeply interested in the history, making, showing, crafting etc of ceramics I have for a long time had in my mind swirling around many things. However, object really stands out and that is the exquisite Scarab Vase by Adelaide Robineau. Also there is an article by John Roberts (Temporality, Critique, and the Vessel Tradition: Bernard Leach and Marcel Duchamp) that made me really make the shift from the work I had started in graduate school to changing course to what I pursuing today. As previously stated being in isolation (like everyone) during the pandemic made me think about what work I wanted to pursue, that is what sort of work I was really really interested in pursing not just for my own reasons, but my own reasons matched with reasons that my neighbor would be interested. And when I say my neighbor, I sort of really mean the people nearest in proximity to me. The global market is great, but what is it that those around me would like? How do I match my skills - that I believe I have been given and should benefit others - to my neighbor in a way that satisfies our mutual interests, yearnings, desires, questions, pains, joys etc?

I don’t pretend to have all the answers, but I am certain that the Greeks at least figured out something foundational with how they deeply thought about the vessel form. And I wanted in some respects to start there.

I started with Robineau and I will circle back. Her vase astounds me. It is on my list of objects to see before I die, and I think it should be on every person’s list. If I could make something half as good as her then I would have made something phenomenal…maybe even end up in the White House. Which, is sort of a funny and peculiar dream of mine. To have a work displayed there.

Ok, well look forward to a post with some shots of those things rubbered and then eventually plastered…so I can make more plaster objects in the event I screw something up.

Last thing, I spend about 40 hours making the first bowl form I have shown. I took it all the way to porcelain cast. I then found out it warped and looked nothing like what I envisioned. So I decided it needed to be reworked. For anyone out there who is on the fence about time investment and what seems like a failure. Hours do not make something good, but hopefully they get you really close. However, I do believe spending hours grinding away does make all great if you stick with it.

Peace!

First Post

In short I have been in a process of changing my artistic practice. Various reasons are:

  • A pandemic made me think about my work and values in what I make

  • I have taught art history and I have expanding respect for the great works of history, and I see these works as still speaking to people today.

  • I hope to engage in that ongoing conversation, and particularly engage by using the vessel form.

  • I want to have a making practice that better reflects my desire to make works that nurture people’s well-being.

  • I am interested in making works of art that are good enough that people would want to buy them. Not that it’s about getting my bag, but if someone will pay for something that means something.

  • I have a better sense of how this work will connect with who I am.

So there you go.

I will be updating with in process photos and occasionally thoughts.