New Project and Broken Kiln

My kiln is not working and I had to order parts. Due to covid, the parts are taking longer than it normally would. I may be able to rent kiln space if it takes too long. In the mean time, I started a new project. In 2017, I took a two week workshop with Beth Cavener and Tip Toland (see work below). The workshop was very intense and I learned a lot about hand building, glaze techniques, armatures, and  display. Unfortunately, this style and trying this type of work was not well received. I was discouraged and put these ideas away. However, after my committee meeting, hearing that the graduate program can be, "anything you want" and reference to one of my pieces as "whimsical", I decided that I wanted to revisit these ideas. 

Last year, a friend of mine was driving home and found a fox on the side of the road. It had been hit by a car. My friend picked it up and took it home. She took photographs for me and is composting it on her farm so that I can use the bones for later work. I sketched from the photos, but then put them away, again realizing that they would be ridiculed. 

After creating the bird wall sculpture in the previous posts, I started thinking about the element of wonder in the "seeds", how each seed is an object, and how I had hoped that the bird drawing in the background would be more visible. This led me to become more ambitious. I dug up my fox drawing and printed it out life size. I rolled out slabs and pieced them together. I decided that I wanted to create a life size fox that is similar to the seeds that I had made. I found my notes from the workshop and figured out how to build on top of the slab drawing of the fox.  My process photos are captioned below. I imagine it being glazed like the seeds in prior posts. Also, I added holes to the fox so that it can be hung; however, I can see a gallery full of the animals that are on very short pedestals. I would want them to be viewed from above as if walking in the woods and coming across them. 

Beth Cavener, The Question that Devours, 2012

Beth Cavener, Kept, 2017

Tip Toland, The Whistlers, 2005