Sometimes getting to the same place by different means brings you to a place you never been. I have always used the wheel, but now I’m into handbuilding.
When you throw on the wheel, you have to be very Zen, if you’re a bit off, you gotta just stay away or the only thing you’ll be doing is throwing clay at the wall.
Stress has had too much of a handle on me, so working the clay with no tools, just my hands has been really satisfying.
I went to a workshop at the National Center of Afro-American Artists and an artist from South Africa taught us the techniques from her village. I really had no idea that you could achieve just about any effect with just your hands. Previously, I would roll out a slab and carve and shape it. With these I just started with lumps.
I saw a phenomenal exhibit at the ICA. I can’t stop thinking about it. It was ceramic sculpture with a techinique where you could see each and every fingerprint. I can’t even begin to figure out the technique, but the one’s I’ve pinched have little marks, almost like they’ve been hammered like a tin drum.
Handbuilding seems to encapsulate the idea of flow, or art for art’s sake- it’s the art of the process.
Artlog
I like to show the process, successes and failures are instructive
I started another alley drawing. My goal is to not oversaturate and to have more nuanced shading.
I completed a self-portrait I’m somewhat content with, using lots of color. I think I want to try portraits of the kids, to work in a monochromatic style. I came very close to ruining it by using a yellow highlight instead of the chartreuse I had, I’m too scared to touch it any more.
Not sure if I improved or removed…
Sometimes a funk can be something you can push through, but when it starts eating at your confidence, it’s so much harder to combat. I had my voice, very clear, when I wrote my memoir, but now I’m scared I’ll lose it when I write about art. The problem is academic writing, the only kind I know, so when I start writing about art, it’s going to be stilted, dry and not easily comprehensible. I guess I have to work at it, duh.
I was thinking about when I make a set of things out of clay, I think it’ll be a uniform process, or the same for each piece. Every one I make ends up looking entirely similar, but the method totally different. I can get to the same shape a million ways from Sunday- l thought it would be opposite.
I just finished a set of stemless wine tumblers. I was mildly disappointed in the shape because I wanted to have an exaggerated form, but they just ended up looking like the standard stemless form. I wanted them to be really round & large.
I think I’m more drawn to exaggerated forms, maybe I’ll try a series of crazy ones? I also want to remind myself to do hand building. Nesting bowls? Human forms? Architectural slabwork.
