Armor For My Memories: Part 2

While we were reading the text this semester, I was naturally drawn to the ceramic work more so than the other mediums because of my own personal connection to the medium and process. As such I started the class thinking my final project would be ceramic wares of some kind, in my usual style, maybe with a new glaze to try something new. I threw some vessels and pulled them from the bisque fire, but I couldn’t help but feel like I should do something new, something entirely different.

I started a large painting of a bird’s eye view of the Llano river mid-way through the semester in oil on a 4 x 6 canvas that had been staring me in the face for months. While it was nice to look at it lacked personal dept. Now I don’t primarily identify as a painter, however I do a fair amount of painting during the school year so even this large homage to the Llano didn’t feel like it referenced the text enough. I wanted to try something truly new, and I wanted to re-evaluate the Art work in the text not as a potter, but as a student of new mediums for creating.

As I mentioned in a response earlier in the blog, I took a group of students to the Fort Worth Modern last month and saw some Frank Stella work that was very sculptural in its use of wood panels and levels. These pieces owed more to the woodworking craftsmanship than the layers of paint on top. I was drawn to this, and I revisited much of the wood work, and even the textures of some of the jewelry work in Makers. Here is a list of works that I was specifically drawn to after finding new perspective.

Alma Eickerman. Sterling Bracelet. Pg. 271.

Miye Matsukata. Cuff Bracelet. Pg. 274

These works have textures and varying levels that was really appealing to me. In my ceramic wheel work, texture is of great interest and importance.

Wharton Esherick. Staircase. Pg.171

This woodwork more than any other in Makers stood out for its organic qualities, something I try to feature in my ceramic sculptural work.

Lissa Hunter. Old Soul. Pg. 467

Rebekah Laski. Broach. Pg. 445

These pieces were appealing because of the way the framed objects of importance and had a quite narrative quality.

So with this new view on the work, and a desire to get away from the comfort of my preferred medium I decide to reinterpret the large painting of the Llano.  I wanted to incorporate the variety of levels found in Eickerman and Matsukatas work while borrowing the subtle aesthetic narrative of Hunter and Laski’s work. Lastly I wanted to work with wood, not only because of the Stella work and the Esherick piece in Markers, but because I have long wanted to try wood working at a creative level.

This is the piece that came out of all of these influences.

        

      

The image of the Llano is a reference to my time in Junction, how it has helped me grow as a person and a maker.

I hand forged the nail two summers ago, during a visit from a metal smith to Junction. I frequently used the head of the nail to press into my cups, bottles, and vases. I used a clear epoxy to affix it, with some level of apprehension. If I attached it permanently to the piece, I would no longer be able to use it in my pottery. I had another nail I forged that same summer but it wasn’t as well crafted. The temptation as to simply use this lesser quality nail, but I decided it was time to retire the original nail and move on.

The Rock below is a piece of flint I found near the river hunting for native american spear and arrow heads. It felt like a tiny version of a monolithic sculpture, like something Jun Kaneko would create. I like to collect small items like this from places and times of importance in my life. Sometimes I use them to press into clay, but last summer I toyed with the idea of building a display for them with clay. This is an extension of that concept.

When working with clay I will at times take bits of trimming or the clay you scrape off a bat after the pot has been wired off, then attach it to the piece it came off. I like the contrast of the smooth trimmed pot and the rough abandoned scrap. I found myself doing the same thing with my wood scraps. The vertical line of triangles that the nail sits on, as well as the small shelf the rock sits on, are all the scraps left over from the many miter cuts made during the creating of the piece. The red-orange vertical slats of scrap wood are the results of trimming and fitting the panels. I left a couple of the pencil measurement lines on these pieces to future reference process. Some are sanded smooth, some are left raw to reveal the texture, to show the ripping of the saw.

The 3 circles on the left side are a reference to the impression the nail head gives to leather hard clay. The three repetitions represent my daughter Grace, my wife Rebecca, and myself. In the past I have used this triad motif, but the change is size here is more a reflection on the phases of my life, of time and it’s affect on memory and even place. How the two are connected. The same for the slow gradient change of the orange-red scraps. I thought about how each time I went to Junction it was different, because I was different. A slow almost unnoticeable change, like the water of a river cutting away at the earth to form a canyon.

I left lots of raw wood unpainted and opted to forgo stain. The natural quality of the wood is something I wanted to keep, and even highlight in areas like the right side panel and the raised triangles. It is hard to see but there is a thin channel of coppers and golds, of Payne's grey and prussian blues between the raised river and the right side triangle and circle panel. I left this thin vein of the base board to have a section feel almost submerged, as if hiding under the other surfaces. The colors a nod to the fuming pieces I made in Junction with James. The glitter and gold with much owed to Beatrich Woods luster glazing pg. 203.

Overall I am happy with the piece, and I have really enjoyed working in this style melding my love of texture, process and natural beauty with painting and wood working. I am going to do more work like this in Fredricksburg when I take a painting class this summer. I was half dreading the idea of a Graduate level painting studio, but now I am full of excitement and anticipation.

As for things I need to work on. My craftsmanship. Not all of my miter cuts met up flush, you can see small gaps on some edges, especially the bottom left. I think a lot of that comes down to practice, experience, and possibly resources. I made all the cuts by hand, and hand sanded to make some things fit snug. A laser guided power miter saw will almost certainly be my birthday gift. I also want to invest in some quality hand planers, and a small table top belt sander.

 I welcome any and all comments and criticism. Thank you all for your time, post, responses, and insight this semester and I hope to see you in Lubbock and F-Burg in 4 short weeks!