Ceramics

Thoughts on clay:

1. The pleasure wrought from touching it is universal.

2. It makes my hands dry. It makes me thirsty.

3. It is one of the top three mediums I am most comfortable working with.

4. Sometimes the functional aspect of it bothers me. In other situations, it makes me feel cool, like, "Every morning I eat cereal from a bowl that I made myself."

5. Clay is good. Clay with metal is better.


So, in chronological order, here are the pieces I finished for my ceramics classes.


Sex, Drugs, and Rock n'Roll Teapot and Teacup Set, Fall '07
Assignment: Make two teapots and one teacup that relate to each other

Sex Teapot: To use this one, remove the mohawk top and fill the man's head with water. The water flows through the man's mouth to the woman's, through her head, and out the arrow spout. I threw this one out, and I would really like to make it again.

Drugs Teacup: Mostly for this cup I had cocaine in mind. Read into it what you will.



Rock n'Roll Teapot: So much apoxy. I am still looking for a better way to attach metal to glazed ceramics.



Divorce Timeline, Spring '08
Assignment: Create an indoor installation.


In this project I used the symbolism of the domestic ritual of sitting down at the dinner table to comment on divorce. The set-up is vague enough however to apply to any other type of situation in which something goes awry.

In the picture above, the left side represents five stages of divorce from a man's perspective, and the right side represents five stages from a woman's. The sets of dinnerware closest to us are whole and untouched, but as we move down the table, each set becomes more deconstructed until the plate, bowl, and cup look like a pile of rubble. The man's set crumbles into a heap while the woman's set cracks into shards.

For the final presentation, I had each member of the class take a seat in front of a set, and we had a big weird family critical discussion about it.


Self-portrait as a Bird, Spring '08
Assignment: Open


This project was all about my crooked spine and the awkward years I spent wearing a huge plastic brace. The cage was inspired by the physical restriction of the brace, and the bird was inspired by the way Kaylee drew me in one of our collaborative paintings (see previous post) and these crazy hens with an awesome feather pattern I saw at the rodeo.

More to come.