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'figure drawing for painting' with emma amos, sophomore year at mason gross, rutgers
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here i used ink with a brush and oil pastels, then i cut the piece and layered it with red paper to hold its structure
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peter's valley craft center, painting with glaze on tiles
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this was a project where i transcribed text from past writings onto slabs of clay. i then constructed clay boxes and painted them with watercolor after firing. i was describing a time at age 16, when i accompanied a family on their vacation to the island of nantucket, as their nanny. i would ride my bike to the cliffs and wander in the fog, collecting nature and feeling alive.
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this is probably 5'x4', constructed of fabric and thread, 95% hand sewn. some of the smaller pieces had to be reinforced with glue. this was an alternate to writing a final paper for an art history class. bragan thomas taught at rutgers and was obsessed with egyptian art, it was fantastic. so i chose to reinterpret this picasso painting 'man with a green lollipop'. one of my first steps into fiber art.
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more slab building. this time i used acrylic paints on fired clay, mimiking designs from the picasso quilt. i rarely used glazes, ever frustrated by a lack of control. later, after my class built our own wood kiln, i started falling in love with the unpredictability of atmosphere firings (salt, soda and wood).
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now a student at alfred university: tile making class with ann currier. i love repetition. this piece turned out so well, i need to document the finished result...
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we pressed clay into plaster slabs that we had carved. this is a nice example of a soda firing. i used no glazes, soda ash is sprayed in when temperatures reach 2350 degrees farenheit. http://potteryblog.com/2006/01/what-is-soda-firing/
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wheel throwing with sanam emami. as a teacher she is meticulous, engaging, and thorough. as a person she is so warm and inclusive. http://sanamemami.com/
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i stopped being interested in utilitarian pottery. i started throwing closed sculptures and adding large, beak-like, 'spouts'. i loved painting the surface with slip/watered down clay.
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i rarely used glaze at this point. these 'pitchers' were salt fired. the jellyfish are made with white and black slip, the surface behind them is bare clay darkened and shining from fire and salt.
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the summer after junior year, i traveled with another university to mali, west africa to study the art and culture of that special region. i came back to alfred university in the fall, uninterested in touching clay. these are skate egg cases/mermaid purses from one of the nantucket beach wanderings i wrote about earlier. i kept them in a red tin for a several years before i realized what they were meant to become. this was my very first venture into something slightly more 3-d than previous wall-hangings. and a definitive step away from clay.
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this is a milkweed pod, found in forests and hills in upstate new york
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i used yarn from alfred sheep, hand spun and sold by local women
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wayne higby taught this sculpture class. i wasn't into sculptures at that point, i mostly wanted to play with fabric.
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i did a project at mason gross, during my freshman year, where i made a bunch of tiny ceramic heads and stuck them on rusty poles. i wish i had photos of that...
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i started using tiny pants and thrift store clothes to make small sculptures, like 'sketches'. i added buttons and pins and embroidery.
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thrift store baby clothes + buttons
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towards the end of senior year, i made friends with a kick/treadle wheel and had fun making wonky cups. i decorated them with lots more jellyfish! after painting with black and white slip, i dipped them in clear glaze so the tops would be smooth to drink out of. always atmosphere firings at this point.
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now check out the 'bfa thesis' and 'thesis sculpture' sections to see how my artwork changed during my final year of art school.