Tag Archives: sculpture

“The River” exhibit at the Parkersburg Art Center

My work will be on view at the Parkersburg Art Center as part of “The River” a biennial juried exhibition. The exhibit runs from June 26 through August 6, 2016. An Opening Reception is on June 26 from 1-3 pm come join the fun!

Here are my three Fish sculptures that are in the show.

Silica Based Life Form Fish #3220

Silica Based Life Form
Fish #3439

Silica Based Life Form Fish #9277

All of these pieces are from my Silica Based Life Form Series that began in 2013 and continues to evolve.

Here is a link to the Parkersburg Art Center for more information.

http://www.parkersburgartcenter.org/

Women of Appalachia art exhibit 2015

This years Women of Appalachia Show has again gathered some very fine artwork made by women who live and work in the many counties of Appalachia. I’m proud to be apart of this traveling exhibit and I hope you can get to see the show and go to one of the poetry and short story performances.

These are the sculptures that I have in the show. There is a link to the website with more information at the end of this post.

OFF COURSE
glass, clay, stone,shell

Below are three of my Fish from the Silica Based Life Form series

http://www.womenofappalachia.com/

You can see this amazing show now at the Parkersburg Art Center, in the Multicultural Gallery in Baker Center, Athens Ohio from Jan 12 through April 30 2016 and at the Pump House Center for the Arts in Chillicothe from May 5 to ?

There is also a written word aspect to this show and three more readings will be held in December, March and May. These are real women telling their own stories and sharing their poetry.

migrating fish

My Silica Based Life Form Fish have really been getting around. This one just came home from the Zanesville Museum of Art’s 70th Ohio Exhibition.

The Fish below just landed at the Dairy Barn in Athens Ohio and will travel to Athens West Virginia and Athens Georgia over the next year as part of the Athens Voices Show Upcoming Exhibitions | Dairy Barn

Silica Based Life Form
Fish

Five more of my slumped glass sculptures will be moving from Parkersburg West Virginia to Athens Ohio as part of the Women of Appalachia Show

Women of Appalachia | Their Stories & Their Art Exhibition

In the Eye of the Storm

Silica Based Life Form
Flower

There’s an opening at the Dairy Barn January 16, 2015 from 5-7 pm and a reception for the Women of Appalachia Exhibit at the Multicultural Center in Athens Ohio March 13, 2015.

All of these sculptures are for sale if you live close enough we can negotiate the shipping charges.

STONEHENGE

Stonehenge, a circle of enormous stones brought to that spot by people working with stone and wood tools. Two different types of stone, one for the posts and one for the lintels. Knobs carved into the uprights and holes carved into the cross stones to hold them in place.

Not much is known about the people who built it but we can surmise that they were well organized and had the time and desire to build a place that was concerned with the passage of the sun. Early peoples were much more acquainted with the changes of the moon and sun cycles and the effects on their everyday lives.

the following is an excerpt from wikipedia, there is a lot more info there

“Stonehenge evolved in several construction phases spanning at least 1,500 years. There is evidence of large-scale construction on and around the monument that perhaps extends the landscape’s time frame to 6,500 years. It is in the middle of the most dense complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in England, including several hundred burial mounds.^[1]

The surrounding circular earth bank and ditch, which constitute the earliest phase of the monument, have been dated to about 3100 BC.

Evidence of the second phase is no longer visible. The number of postholes dating to the early 3rd millennium BC suggest that some form of timber structure was built within the enclosure during this period.

Archaeological excavation has indicated that around 2600 BC, the builders abandoned timber in favor of stone and dug two concentric arrays of holes in the centre of the site. These stone sockets are only partly known (hence on present evidence are sometimes described as forming ‘crescents’); however, they could be the remains of a double ring.

The north-eastern entrance was widened at this time, with the result that it precisely matched the direction of the midsummer sunrise and midwinter sunset of the period. This phase of the monument was abandoned unfinished, however; the small standing stones were apparently removed and the holes purposefully backfilled. Even so, the monument appears to have eclipsed the site at Avebury in importance towards the end of this phase.

During the next major phase of activity, 30 enormous Oligocene–Miocene sarsen stones (shown grey on the plan) were brought to the site. They may have come from a quarry, around 25 miles (40 km) north of Stonehenge on the Marlborough Downs, or they may have been collected from a “litter” of sarsens on thechalk downs, closer to hand. The stones were dressed and fashioned with mortise and tenon joints before 30 were erected as a 33 metres (108 ft) diameter circle of standing stones, with a ring of 30 lintel stones resting on top. The lintels were fitted to one another using another woodworking method, the tongue and groove joint”

the guides were very well informed and they worked for peanuts!!!

Green Man a how-to-tutorial

I recently got a commission to make a Green man and I took the opportunity to document the process.

I make my green men and women using basic hand building techniques. I start with a large lump of clay 5-6 pounds and I form a shallow bowl just like a large pinch pot, slowly pressing into the lump and squeezing until I have an oval shape that is 1/2 – 1″ thick, and the sides are 2-3″ tall. The bowl shape is about the size of a large face. I go large because fired clay shrinks with each firing and I want them to be on the monumental side.

Then I wait,,,when the clay is ready, and this is crucial, it’s time to start pushing, pressing, shaving and adding clay to form a face. The clay needs to be pretty pliable but not so soft as to collapse. The thickness of the bowl helps by giving without ripping. How long to wait? That depends on the humidity and can be slowed by wrapping tight or loosely in plastic. Resist the temptation to hurry the drying as this will probably just form a stiff skin on the out side making it hard to push.

I use photos of faces, my own face and my fingers as a ruler to rough out the proportions. I concentrate on eyes, nose and mouth since the rest will be covered by leaves. It takes several days working a few hours each day to finish the face. The clay is kept moist by sponging with water and wrapping in plastic during the forming phase. This is important so the leaves will adhere properly. It also allows for fine work at the end of the process.

The leaves are cut from slabs of clay about 1/4″ thick. I use real leaves collected in the fall, green leaves rot quickly but some have to be used green for example grape and paw paw because they don’t store well. A large green man can take up to 36 leaves.

The assembly must be done on the kiln shelf because the piece can’t be moved once it is dry. I add a coil of clay in a circle around the face to attach the leaves and give a little space for fingers to pick it up.

After the piece is completely dry, it is bisque fired to cone 04. The item featured here took over a week to dry because mother nature brought on the rain that week and even with fans I had to do a two day slow dry in the kiln to be sure. Be careful drying in the kiln, you can dry out the skin and leave a bit of moisture inside leading to a spectacular explosion and a pile of shards.

drying…

still drying….

After the bisque firing the piece can be handled, the dust washed off, and glaze or stains applied. One more firing to a higher temperature, cone 4, and then we wait,,,,,, for everything to cool off!

all fired up in the kiln

after the first firing

Who Who Who? Owls that’s who!!

The owls have arrived in a variety of sizes and colors.

who’s on first?

Still working on a poem, these things take their own time.

who are you?

They are a HOOT to make so more will hatch…………

Here’s the poem!!

poems are included with each owl printed on bright card stock and tucked inside.

Owl

Who sits silently in the trees

Who takes flight on the midnight breeze

Scourge of rodents near and far

Sage of the woods Who sees all

Who’ll keep watch all through the night

Counting stars while you sleep tight

Bacchus /Dionysus Greenman

A new Greenman has made it through the fires. It’s been awhile since I’ve made one and I started this guy in September when I picked a variety of grape leaves. They must be used fresh unlike oak leaves that last for years.

Detail of Bacchus

Bacchus is the Roman god of wine and Dionysus is the Greek god of wine. I like wine too. So I combined the Greenman with a couple of gods and voila!!

The addition of grapes & curlicues completes the references to the fruit of the vine. I finished this piece with a spray of various green stains that are fired on at stoneware temperatures. Ready to hang indoors or outside.

To read more about the process of building a green man see the Women of Appalachia post.

Women of Appalachia

Scarred Woman

This work was recently juried into the fifth Women of Appalachia Art Exhibit on display in the Multicultural Center Art Gallery, Baker Center, Ohio University. The exhibit runs through December 10 Then I believe it moves on to Chillicothe, OH.

There will be two events with spoken word and musical work performed on Nov 1 and Nov 7 details at www.womenofappalachia.com

“Scarred Woman” above epitomizes the Appalachian woman who has been through the fire and may be marked by life but not broken. The resilience and creativity that my friends and neighbors bring to every day life is truly inspiring.

Paw Paw Green Man Sun

Paw Paw Green Man is also in the show hanging beside his sister.

The process for making my green men and women are basic hand building techniques. I start with a large lump of clay and form a shallow oval bowl shape about the size of a face. This is pretty thick and the sides are 2-3 inches tall. When the clay is ready, and this is crucial, it’s time to start pushing, pressing, shaving and adding clay to form a face. The clay needs to be pretty pliable for the first roughing in but not so soft as to collapse.

I use some photos of faces and my own face to get the proportions and I usually go large as the clay shrinks in the fire. I only need to do eyes, nose and mouth because the edges of the face are covered with leaves.

It takes a few days of a few hours each to finish the face. The clay is kept in a plastic bag so it will dry slowly. This allows for finer finishing at the end.

The leaves are cut from slabs of clay, using real leaves. A large Green Man can take up to 36 leaves.

The assembly has to be done on the kiln shelf as the bone dry piece is very fragile. After the piece is completely dry it is bisque fired, if it survives I either spray on stains for a soft finish or dip into glaze for a shiny finish. It is then fired again to a much higher temperature.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEW WORK

slumped glass "silica -based Life Forms; Flower"

slumped glass in a clay base
“Silica Based Life Form” Flower

Here are a few pictures of my new work. I started experimenting with slumped glass a little over a year ago. It all came about because Meigs county OH no longer recycles glass of any kind and the powers that be will not even entertain the thought of a bottle bill. Being an avid recycler since the early 70’s I literally could not throw out something so easily recyclable.

After viewing an online how to video I realized I could create my own clay molds to slump the glass. I grabbed all the bisque ware I had, broke up a bunch of bottles filled my “molds” and started firing.

Naturally nothing worked out the way I planned (if that ever happens I will be pretty sure I’m dead) but the results were very interesting and spurred me on to continue the experimentation. I quickly learned that the edges are razor sharp, invested in a variety of gloves, and carried on. A few people have suggested that I should soften the edges but quite frankly that is my favorite part.

detail photo of sharp edges from
“In the Eye of the Storm”

Eventually I decided to mount the slumped glass in clay bases. I use either a white stoneware or a beautiful dark red/brown clay with black specks called Nelsonville Pottery clay by Columbus Clay Co to recreate the starbrick clay used to make bricks that are still in use today in Nelsonville’s streets and sidewalks. The work quickly took on the look of trees, flowers and fish. I plan to exhibit my “Silica based Life Forms” in the window of Starbrick Clay Art Studio at the September Final Friday in Nelsonville on September 27. It will remain up for a month, if you’re in the area check it out, if you’re not it’s worth the trip

Silica Based Life Form
Trees