Polish Pottery

I was introduced to polish pottery several years ago. All of the items are hand made. Hand stamping  is used in order to create the patterns. This allows for the complicated designs and keeps the glaze from being too thick on the pottery itself.

Images are from http://www.polishpottery.com/

Watermelon Bowls

These pieces where made by Samantha Robinson. I love how intricate and detailed the designs are. I also love how some are reminiscent of other things like the first one which she calls watermelon bowls.
http://samantharobinson.com.au/?p=160

Carys Davies

Carys Davies Ceramics

Several pieces of Carys Davies stood out to me because of their very unique glazed finishes. His website describes the glaze as a "rubbed back glazing," and the two shown above are "sea change" and "volcanic" finishes. The bowls on the bottom in particular remind me of pumice, and the texture adds an entirely new level to the form of the bowl.

Ceramics and Light

I had come across Margaret O'Rorke's work last semester, and her pieces capture/emit light in an incredibly beautiful and soft manner.  She pursues several scales of porcelain construction, and once illuminated, the materiality of the clay seems to nearly disappear, allowing for a pure formal reading of the light.      

http://www.castlight.co.uk/index.html

Pottery Tools and Kiln Construction

The first site is simple and includes several tools that I thought were interesting.  Since we work within a certain range of tools within the studio, it is eye-opening to see the incredible range of tools and the forms that can be achieved with such equipment.

http://www.vangilderpottery.com/vgp_store.html

Also, within this site, the side links include Manabigama Kiln, which I was curious to learn more about.  This link is helpful in terms of understanding the benefits of this kiln as a small-scale, rather easily operated unit, ideal for studios, etc.  In addition, the construction process is discussed.

http://manabigama.com/index.php/blog/53-new-salt-manabigama-kiln

Ceramics and Flight

Although this subject matter is incredibly different from the studio, I stumbled upon these websites and thought that they were interesting.  It is amazing that ceramics are so versatile in terms of its physical abilities and that the material is so relied upon in incredibly sensitive technical applications.

http://www.switched.com/2010/09/20/airbus-envisions-invisible-ceramic-skinned-planes-in-2050/

http://www.ceramics-directory.com/about-ceramics-in-aerospace.php

Simple and Practical

I love kitchenware, especially dining ware and I really love the idea of designing and making my own. This class has been the perfect opportunity to gain experience in this area. In the future, I look forward to hopefully getting to make pottery again using the techniques I have learned from this class and I hope to get really good at it.

These are all pottery from Pigeon Toe. I really admire pottery that is simple and practical.

Wood fired

After initially seeing the unique products that can be created without glaze by using a wood kiln, I decided to look more into it.  This piece by Richard Bresnahan turned out to have a gorgeous finish.  The more I looked into it, I realized how beautiful his work is.  He ceramic influence from both Japan and America and likes to experiment with different raw materials.

http://www.northernclaycenter.org/see/past_exhibitions/2008.php

  

This army of slip cast ceramic characters was created by the Mingarro Brothers in collaboration with Studio Apparatu (a very experimental ceramics studio based in Spain). It is interesting to notice how each component of the character's body is cast separately to be later united as a whole.

Reversed Volumes Fruit and Vegetable Shaped Bowls

Reversed Volumes by Mischer' Traxler are shaped by capturing the imprint of a fruit/vegetable.

The space between a vessel and a fruit/vegetable is filled with ceramics. After the original organic material is taken away, the bowl preserved the actual imprint. The surface of each fruit/vegetable is detailed represented and let's the user see it from a different view. 

The fruits and vegetables used for the collection are: cauliflower, celeriac, cabbage, melon, red beet, fennel, green apple, yellow pepper and orange.

I really wish I had come up with this idea!!!!

Decorative Design - leather hard

http://ceramicartsdaily.org/ceramic-art-and-artists/ceramic-artists/mariko-brown-undergraduate-showcase-2010/
I was really interested in this artist's method of adding a decorative design to a piece. While still in the leather hard stage, the artist covers the piece in wax and carves the design into the wax, and then fills that in with an under glaze.

site specific ceramics

I think the most interesting part of this video was when they harvested the clay; I can't imagine how much time that took

Flendrivka

I can't understand a word that's being said, but I thought that the way he decorated the bowls was absolutely wild

KAHLA Porcelain

KAHLA porcelain is a German company that produces what they call 'porcelain for the senses'. While watching this video, I found the different processes for mass production fascinating, but also enjoyed how simple and yet beautiful the finished pieces were

Solomia

http://solomia.co.uk/gallery.html

I was really interested in this artist's work because it is such a modern design. The artist uses a very precise and mathematical method to make them and they are all made by hand.

This artist looks like he does the kind of stuff that we're doing with slip casting.  He also makes televisions out of porcelain; I thought that was pretty awesome.

http://lagallery-frankfurt.de/majun.html

Glaze

I thought this was really awesome; is it a metallic glaze? I love how it looks metal but is made out of clay.

www.ruthannetudball.com/

http://www.creativeapplications.net/objects/hot-networks-complexities-and-opportunities-in-collaborative-robotics/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+creativeapplicationsnet+%28CreativeApplications.Net%29

http://vimeo.com/40843815

Really interesting process of design and manufacturing, involving collaborative robotic arms.  While these are glass works, I can see similar applications of human+computer+robot in ceramic production.

Blanc Bijou

Blanc Bijou is a Japanese company that manufactures objects from fluorite.


Although Blanc Bijou is quite a departure from tradition ceramics, it still retains many similarities in both its manufacturing process and material qualities.

For more information about the company or the material: Blanc Bijou

Mandalas

These are two mandalas that I made for an independent study with David Crane in the art department.  My goal was to create a mandala with this "dream catcher"  geometry with a natural/ocean impression.  The border is to give contrast to the natural look of the circle, to give the sense of ripples of water in clear shallow tropical ocean. 

The other mandala is based on the "flower of life", a geometry that has significance in many spiritual traditions, including Judaism.  Both of these mandalas are meant to be installed on a wall like tiles and grouted, filling in the seams with a color suited to the design.  I am pretty sure that the "flower of life" piece will be installed with black grout, that is why I laid the black paper behind it. 

All and all I feel that they were a success.  I hope you enjoy them.  :)

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Mold-making stop-motion video

This is a little experiment of mine to see if I could make a stop-motion video. It was a success! The actual mold... not so much. I need to learn how to put enough mold release on my positive before casting! Thought I'd share the video even if I can't use the mold. I gave in and decided to cast something simple instead:

Cheers!

James Aaron creates tableware pieces that suggest both movement and stability.  James began his career as a dancer which was his inspiration to make everything "flow" together while "standing still".  He uses slip cast molds to create pottery such as the first example.  His pieces are both functional and decorative.

Common "every day" objects

http://www.shalene.com/gallery.html

Shalene Valenzuela is inspired by common every day objects when she creates beautiful slip cast pieces.  Her inspiration on the artwork on the pieces is from an idealized time in society and advertising.  She paints fairytales and coming-of-age issues.  Some of her views are political, but most are fun and creative.  She considers her artwork to be from a "maniacal 50's housewife" view.

Nature Influenced Mandala Tiles

This is something that I m working on in an independent study in the art department. 

Connections- Clay and Textiles

This is a stoneware bowl with a crochet cover by Natalia Gamez. I find it very interesting in its connections between the two material and the potential this has to be taken further. By putting holes in the bowl the textile can be threaded into the form. However, the textile and clay don't seem to be connected enough to create a consistent piece. Specifically the the form reads as a ceramic bowl with a textile top. These two materials could be more integrated which would make for a more interesting piece.

Claymation- dynamic approach to form

I found this claymation online and was really inspired. It was completed by slowly altering the clay and taking pictures for each frame. This art is extremely tedious ( it was done by an amateur like us!) , and I thought it gave a different perspective. In studio most all of our forms are created fired and then static; yet, this is a much more dynamic approach that gives life to the clay. It really makes me question some limits that I had about the material and want to explore the boundaries of static vs dynamic and the space in between.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=iv&src_vid=AurouucaQts&v=IaFT9DXuEE4&annotation_id=annotation_556244

Slip Casting Natural Sponges

This is a set of natural sponges cast in earthen ware and stone ware slip by a guy named Glythe. The forms are quite organic and their porous nature and cavities inviting ;however, they pushed me to ask myself if they were even designed. If all the work is just an imitation of nature can it really be considered design? I came across this quote by the sculptor Constantine Brancusi which gave me insight about how I felt.

"What is real is not the external form, but the essence of things... it is impossible for anyone to express anything essentially real by imitating its exterior surface."

"When you see a fish you don't think of its scales, do you? You think of its speed, its floating, flashing body seen through the water... If I made fins and eyes and scales, I would arrest its movement, give a pattern or shape of reality. I want just the flash of its spirit."

This is Heath Ceramics, they've been making ceramics since the 40's. I just love their simplicity.
And here's a video of their work in production:

Summer 2012 from Heath Ceramics on Vimeolink

Kala Stein

Kala Stein is a ceramic artist who uses a template to cut out slabs of clay. By stacking the slabs together, she can create a variable number of different positives for plaster molds from the same template. Afterwards, she slip casts the finished piece.

Inlaying Colored Clay

We had talked about colored clay in class, but I was particularly interested in the way Mitch Lyons colored clay to use as a decorative design on the piece, rather than painting afterwards. He talks about how he used an iron oxide to color the clay to be used for decorating, but he also adds a painters pigment to it instead of water to give more color, because the iron oxide doesn't fully show up until after the firing process. He creates the design separately and they rolls his actual ceramic piece on top of it which he calls the "broomstick method".

see video:

 http://ceramicartsdaily.org/pottery-making-techniques/ceramic-decorating-techniques/video-of-the-week-inlaying-colored-clay-decoration-into-handbuilt-vessels/