This is a portrait by the famous photographer Richard Avedon. I'm sure a lot of people recognize it because it is one of his most famous photos. I recently just did an interpretation of this photo for my lithography project. I love the style in which Avedon chooses to work in. He uses a plain background in this specific set of portraits and it is amazing how he uses something so simple and nothing in the background to distract the overall subject of the photo. It is all based around the gestures and facial expressions and nothing else.

Recently I've been thinking of wanting to make a collage type work out of clay. I was researching other people's interpretations and I found this one. I love how this one contrasts with the dark wood it's placed on. Hopefully I'll be able to construct something similar to this in the future.

Defy Gravity

It's incredible what clay artists are capable of doing. It seems as if this sculpture took weeks to create. I enjoy this unique balancing clay sculpture.

How is this made?

Elephant

So simple and neat

Laszlo Tompa

I dare you to try and make something like this Jim!

More UIMA artists

Here is another ceramic piece at the UIMA that I saw that I thought was incredibly interesting:

Turquoise Inlet by Wayne Higby, 1983.

It wasn't necessarily the shape of the pottery that intrigued me, but the glaze (painting?) style on the outside. It seems incredibly detailed. I would assume this style was planned as opposed to just randomly painting it with glaze. It kind of looks like desert mountains against a blue sky, doesn't it?

This is one of the most interesting texture pieces that I've seen. I think this would be really cool to texture a piece with, but I wonder how one would go about doing this?

I really enjoy the glazing techniques that this artist uses. They are very colorful and give a watercolor effect. I have been looking into different glazing ideas to use on my own pieces. I hope to create some pieces that are similar to this.

I love these clay works by Lucinda Brown. Her signiture trait is sculpting faces into her art pieces. These ones are so beatiful and delicate. I am curious as to how she created them.. Anyone have any ideas? I would love to be at this level one day, although this would take loads of skill..

Found this when I was browsing through ideas for the stacked piece. I think this is a cool idea for this project, but obviously on a larger scale.

I've always been fascinated with the colors and pictures on ancient Greek pieces. I made a pot similar to this type of one without the handles and pictures, but similar in color, in junior high. I think it would be cool to make another one like this in class so if anyone knows how to make the glazes like these I would love to know.

This is Miru Kim. Her photography provokes a lot of emotions. The video is only about 15 minutes if you have time to watch it. its pretty interesting. But here are some of her works:

A couple more:

Rune Guneriussen: started his career as a photographer and blossomed into creating these amazing installations in nature.

Jung Lee: also a photographer using instillations in nature.

I love these installations. The neon signs by Lee especially. Neon signs are so ugly and are usually used for a more crude purpose. Putting them in a desolate outdoor setting somehow makes them poetic in a sense. 

UIMA

So I thought it would be cool to write about certain potters that have their work on display at the University of Iowa Museum of Art.

For this week, in honor of our wood-kiln burning right now and the cool, organic look it gives to the fired clay, I found this gem:

This set is on display at the museum and was created by George Lowe. He sells his work mainly in the Midwest, and fires (in a wood kiln! And sometimes a gas reduction kiln) them multiple times to get the desired, earthy-look.
He's also quoted as saying, on his website, "I believe that the best work happens when I least expect it. Through hard work and perseverance, a few good pieces will emerge.”
I feel as though this is pretty good motivation to continue working on any piece, no matter what our expectations, in order just to create SOMETHING! And, who knows, it may just turn out to be your best piece.
Happy pottery-making!

Scot Belcastro

I was looking other blogs on wordpress.com and I came across an artist named Scot Belcastro. At first, I was interested in his silhouette paintings but then toward the bottom I saw a link to a building made out of 36,000 ceramic rods and had to check it out.

Here are two of his paintings, too cool not to share.

And now... the building composed of ceramic rods. Here is a better description of it: 

"It’s made of 36,000 ceramic rods in 23 colours arranged in families of eight colours. The second layer is made up of horizontally folded metal panels in two colours and installed at an angle"

Here is the link if you wanted to see more!

http://surfaceandsurface.com/2012/10/11/brandhorst-museum-sauerbruch-hutton/

Beautiful Losers

Over the summer I watched a documentary called "Beautiful Losers." It was a film about artists emerging from the 90's who began a movement in the art world surrounding the DIY and street art style. Barry McGee was an artist who stuck out the most to me. I still can't figure out what it is about his work that I like more than the other artists included because they are all so uniquely their own. But here are a few of his works. I also highly recommend the documentary, it's awesome.

Old School Pot

While I was on pinterest the other day I found this pot that I thought was really cool. I'm obsessed with old school and vintage/ antique things so I guess that's why I took such a liking to it.

I recently even antiqued an old barn door I found outside of my neighbors garage and turned it into a coffee table.

This is the Work of Don Hoskisson- who I woodfire with in Oregon.
He makes his own wheels and special tool for incising and decorating clay- makes his own clay too . . .

I know we dont have to share about just ceramics, but here are a couple ceramic artists that I love. Here is Pae White:

She does a lot of installations in her work which I love. But I cannot get over the porcelain popcorn with gold glaze. 

And here is Matthias Merkel Hess:

Sorry if that is a bit small. A lot of his work, that I have seen, is ceramic versions of your regular household items. I really love when artists draw a lot of attention to simple, everyday object, which is probably why I love his work. It forces the viewer to view these things in a different light. 

Biking In Berlin

Recently my aunt had a gallery showing in Berlin. The name of the exhibit was "Biking in Berlin" which was inspired by the bike paths she has been tracking while living overseas. I thought this would be cool to share because she works with so many different mediums in a very abstract way, which I love. My favorite works of hers are her hanging drawings, it is such an interactive form of art and we even have one at the office I work in at home. Here is one work from her Berlin show that was my favorite:

And this is a picture of what her hanging drawings are like...

If you wanted to check out more of her work here is the link, it is really cool stuff!

http://www.murphyspicer.com

Scare and Lovely

This is the Style of art I like.  The concepts are beyond me in what inspires this guys (Alex Pardee) far fetched mind.  I would like to see if it is possible to create 3D work with clay this way.  I know someone can do it, but I would like to see if I can create something gross and odd but at the same time beautiful and collected.

Raku Pottery

During high school I took a lot of ceramics classes, and my senior year our teacher set up a day to do some raku firing outside in the parking lot after school. I remember having some kind of conflict and not being able to go, but the way everyones work turned out from this specific type of firing was awesome and I've always wanted to try it.

I found some work from an artist named Steve Mitchell and thought his technique turned out really nice. It explains how he uses a method similar to raku but not entirely the same. Here is the link if anyone wanted to read it:

http://artpark.typepad.com/artblog/2008/07/raku-pottery-by-steve-mitchell.html

I thought these lamps would be really cool to make, but unfortunately I do not possess the skills and the steady hands to make these. Maybe I could make something similar with coils?

Favorite Pieces From Our Visit to Akar

Hey guys! I thought the trip to Akar today was really neat and they had some awesome stuff there. These candlestick holders were among some of the pieces that stood out to me. I thought that they had a really fascinating shape, so I asked Jim how these were most likely made. I was surprised to find out that they were probably made on a pottery wheel. He said that the top half and the bottom half  were most likely made separately and then assembled later on. When I think of objects made on the pottery wheel, I generally think of round symmetrical objects, however I guess this goes to show that thinking outside the box and being creative is key when it comes to making a one of a kind piece. I want to keep this in mind while working on some of my future pieces and hopefully use some techniques that I saw today while visiting Akar! If you didn't make it, you should check it out because it was really great!

made by: Gay Smith, North Carolina

Check out the Rosenfield Collection website, it has tons of images of hand built ceramic objects. I thought it was pretty interesting and might help you guys come up with some ideas.

Here is a link to handbuilding page:  http://rosenfieldcollection.com/?cat=24

Jenny Mendez

Ted Adler

Jerilyn Virden

Kathy Butterly

From Ceramics Today, "American ceramist Kathy Butterly earned a BFA at Moore College of Art in 1986 and an MFA at the University of California, Davis in 1990. Her awards include the Evelyn Shapiro Foundation Grant in 1993, an Empire State Crafts Alliance Grant in 1995, an NYFA Grant in 1999 and the Anonymous Was a Woman Award in 2002. Butterly makes colourful mixed earthenware and porcelain, small-scale, semi-abstract, whimsical sculpture and sculptural vessels, many with bodily references. Some of her slip-cast and softly folded, twisted and assembled forms are vaguely reminiscent of American master potter George Ohr’s work."

Here are a few of her pieces that liked the most:

While these artworks don't have much function, they are unique and visually appealing. The folds that she incorporates into the clay are sleek and modern. Its hard not to stare at them and appreciate how smooth and defined the clay was sculptured, and to try and figure out what these pieces mean, if anything. I think what makes these so unique are the organic shapes she makes out of the clay. Its hard to replicate what she has done, even when they look so incredibly simple.