Alfred Ceramics Day 5

Alfred University Summer Ceramics, Friday June 30th

I arrived at the studio in time to watch the beginning of a demo by one of the grad students.  He began by throwing various clays on each of three large vertical canvases, rhythmically spreading or squeezing the applied clay, then throwing paint on the canvas and adding chalk lines with gusto and abandon.  He then went on to create an equally abstract and large clay sculpture with added pieces of wood and randomly found items.   It was a bit too simplistic for me and seemingly requiring no talent; he certainly had fervor and emotion in his methods, but was this art?  Figuring I might be more enlightened by his afternoon lecture, I did not stay and went to work at my bench.

I began by applying black slip over the dried white slip on the tea cups from the night before. Onto the dried white slip, I painted designs with “wax resist” solution. The wax resist is a liquid that when dry, resists added glaze or slip. When I brushed black slip over the white slip the areas with wax resist repelled the black slip. My goal was a design similar to the Blunomi tea cup.

Wax resist painted over white slip

Black slip applied over white slip and wax resist

I next moved to slab building, by rolling out a slab of clay using a large roller apparatus, and further working it using a rolling pin. I threw the slab over a bisque mold I made last year (for some platters with a dramatic cross in the middle), and left it to harden. I spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon in the library and the museum, taking advantage of their wonderful collections.

After a few hours, returning to the slab draped over the mold, I discovered the mold was hopelessly stuck in the clay. The clay had begun to shrink as it dried and held the mold in place all the more tightly. Not sure what to do about the mold, I went ahead and added four feet, made by cutting a small ball of clay into quarters. After another hour or two, the clay began to crack due to continued shrinkage of the drying clay. Since the cracks relieved some of the strain, I was able to remove the mold. Rather than throw out the piece, it seemed the crack added to the drama of the cross and torn edges, so I plan to go ahead and fire it in the bisque kiln, and see what happens. Maybe the crack will make for a dramatic effect, not sure.

The lecture by the grad student from the morning demo (the abstract art demo) was surprisingly engaging. I expected less, and so it was all the more thought-provoking. The grad student, just completing his first year in Alfred’s MFA program, spoke with intensity and emotion describing his work. It’s, “…how I’m feeling about how I’m doing with myself right now,” he said. His previous BFA pieces were lovely sculptures and paintings of figures reminiscent of Disney characters, expressing masculinity and power struggle in relationships. He moved from there to the grotesque. “I love to do self deprecation, I’m grotesque. I aim at the middle [way] between Disney romance and reality, to express that energy [found in holding the two opposites at the same time.]” His work is based on cartoon imagery: think Disney, Dr. Seuss, Maurice Sendak. Now in a very abstract phase, he expresses himself with the “…grabbing, pushing, squeezing… using my whole body. That’s what’s important to me now.” All in all, it was an enlightening introduction to a new (for me) area of ceramic art.