Snoop Bloggy Blog

I recently spent a lot of time on my BA show.  I made some nice prints.  I am very happy with the way the show turned out.  The opening was Tuesday.

Thursday and Friday I poured some of the new molds I recently purchased.  I need to get a lot of those rolling so I can make some bigger animal trees.  I am thinking if I start making the bases in two pieces then attaching them together post-fire the warping and leaning will be minimized.  I am just worried that they might now attach perfectly.  I made another base to try it out.  I might talk to Brian about that tomorrow.  I still need to go get a big cake stand to make a mold of.  I might do that tomorrow.
A lot of what I am planning on making this semester involved building things for my installation out of wood.  I am planning on hitting up Lowe's this Friday and getting the wood to build the mantle.  I need to make a calendar and plan out some deadlines in preparation for my BFA show.

I have also been working on my Thesis, which is going pretty well.  It is nice to sit and really think critically about my work.  I have also been spending some time working on my Photography project, which has been causing me some serious anxiety.  I feel like I am having a serious creative block, which is really negatively affecting my production of art.  I have been feeling I am in a bit of a rut for the past week or so.

Chris and I did our glaze tests today.

Here is some stuff I’ve been working on.  I have really been focusing on printmaking since my show opens next week.  I forgot to take photos of the two prints I am working on, but I am pretty close to having my Hootie Hoo monotype done and I started printing on my Me-Yow print today.  I got some wood for the other two shelves I need for the show.  I am hoping I can use the two that are already made from the Student Show for Philip’s piece.  I will make it work.  Being sick all last week really set me behind.  I have to print a layer every day this week to get done, and I am not going to be able to do the screenprint on top like I wanted, but it will look fine without it.  I would rather skip it than rush and mess up.  I got the Buddha done.  The gold looks nice.  I also refired the animal tree because a few of the animals fell off during firing.  One cat had too much glaze and slid, taking out a couple more.  It would have been pretty nice had that not happened.  The glaze looks nice on this one, but it is still pretty lop-sided, which I am not happy with.  I need to figure out a way to remedy this.  The lean just makes it look cheap and really takes the craftsmanship down to a level that I am not satisfied with. I have also been working on my thesis.  Writing it really got me thinking about my art and made me realize things about myself and my art that I had considered very much before.  I was really thinking on a higher plane.  I was considering some pretty interesting psychological points to my work.  I have also been learning some cool stuff about my camera which will really help with the documentation of my work and my gallery card.   

Here's what I've been working on...

 With my BA Printmaking show 2 weeks away, I have been spending a lot of time in the print shop.  It has been a nice respite from the ceramics studio.  Not that I do not want to be in the ceramics studio anymore, but it is a nice change of pace.  I do also really enjoy printmaking, and I have missed it.  I had hoped to be done with this by now, but I have come down with a cold, and have opted to rest instead of push myself and get more sick (like I usually do).  But, unfortunately not meeting my art goals makes me feel bad mentally, so it is a lose lose situation.  Assuming I do not feel worse tomorrow than I do now, I will run the first layer of black tomorrow night, then the second on Wednesday.  Hopefully that will finish this one up, then I will have the weekend and next week to do the other monotype I need done for the show.  I really hope I feel better tomorrow.  I can't have another day where I lay around and don't get much of anything done. 

Plus, I need to make the shelves for the ceramic pieces I am pairing with the prints.  I am going to put a couple of the owls featured in the monotype with this print, some porcelain kitties with the cat monotype I still need to make, some little cute kitschy things with "Getting Kitschy With It," and I am working on the below Buddha for my Buddah monotype.  I put some mason stain mixed with low-fire clear on it and fired it to cone 04.  There are little dots of mason stain chunks in it, which I am not too thrilled with.  But, the glaze did stick really well to the piece and it is nice and shiny.  If it weren't for the dots it would look really good.  I am going to do some nice gold detailing, which will make it look better.  I have actually fired this guy twice, and it does look a lot better now than it did the first time, but some of those damn dots won't go away.  They are smaller now though.  After the first firing, I scraped all the glaze with one of those kiln shelf scrapers to pop the bubbles, then washed out the powdered stain that was in the bubbles.  Then I put clear on top and refired with more clear on top (with a 30 minute hold).  They are smaller and smoother now.  I don't think I have this problem with my animal stacks... I did use the same kind of glaze.  I think it is because I splattered this on and brushed on most of the animals, which smoothed out the stain that was in little chunks.  But, I feel like I spattered it on the African Lady I glazed last semester and she has no chunks on her.  She was fired to cone 7, but I do not feel like that would have an effect on chunks of dry mason stain in glaze. 

This is the animal stack I am firing right now to cone 6.  I hope it doesn't lean as much as the first one I did.  The base is thicker and I tried to evenly put weight around the whole thing.  This is firing to 6, with the first at cone 7, so that might have a little effect.  I think the colors on this will look awesome if it fires well.  I am going to get a cake stand to make a mold of to make bigger stacks.  That will be so cool.  As soon as this come out of the kiln I am going to fire a luster, for the Buddha and maybe this stack if I think some luster would serve it well.

The first week of the last semester.

This week I have really been thinking about my two shows.  My BA show is the first week of February, and my BFA show is the week after spring break.  I had a talk with Brian regarding some questions/concerns I had, which was so helpful.  I have been working on a new print for my BA show (the last 2 photos).  I'm excited about it!  I ran another color, but forgot to photograph it.
This past week I did a little glazing, but decided to wait until tomorrow to fire my kiln because I had some stuff at home I wanted to bring in to test fire.  So, I am planning on firing an animal stack tomorrow.  And I am going to test fire a Buddha for the BA show to go with my Buddha print.  I am planning on firing a cone 6 and 018 this week.  I hope these Buddhas can fire to cone 6.  They might melt.  :) They might turn out really cool.
I also worked on the class test tiles.  I am looking forward to learning about glazes.
I bought a kiln today. And a bunch of awesome molds, a lot of which are cute little animals.

End of the semester...

This semester flew by.  I was very busy between ceramics, senior seminar, and art of Japan.  Overall, it was very successful.  I did not make it to all of the ideas I had for projects in ceramics, but I added some and the ones I did not make it to will be a good start for next semester.  The first big project I did collapsed in the kiln, but the following two animal trees I did came out pretty nice.  I was pretty happy with the colorful one, but there were things I wanted to improve upon.  I had a request of purchase by someone I really respect as an artist and thinker, which felt really nice.  I was much happier with the gold animal tree's structure.  I would like to put on more luster and refire it, but I did not have time due to the student show.  I also made a small animal tree, which I love.  It is little, but the glaze on it is very nice and it did not warp at all.  I also made numerous little objects for my shadow box/shelve and show.  I put together two of the shadow box type pieces for the show on pearl.  Neither of them was exactly what I had envisioned, but I did like the way they turned out.  I will make some changes for the next ones I build.  I did a lot of work with different lusters and mason stains, which was fun.  A lot of my work this semester involved going to thrift stores and collecting.  All semester I was basically working up to my room installation on Pearl and putting everything together in a way that made sense for my work.  It was nice seeing my work in that environment.
As far as crits go this semester, we had two in ceramics that were basically just over our ideas/themes at the beginning of the semester.  I also had my bfa and spacelab show crit.  We also had crits over our artist statement in senior seminar.  The first crit of the semester was interesting, considering it was based solely on concept.  Thinking about the semester as a whole was good for me I think.  The second crit near the beginning where we just talked about ideas/progress was painful and it sucked.  My bfa crit was pretty good and I got a lot of helpful feedback.  It was nice to have professors really like my work.  My spacelab crit was a joke.  I did, however, get some helpful comments from Brian, which I have been working on implementing into my work.  Writing my artist statement this semester was very beneficial for me.
I had three pieces in the library show, in which I won the "People's Choice Award."  I also got a piece in the Juried Student Show, in which I won the "Preston's Ceramics Award" and the "Art History Award."  During the opening to my spacelab show I had some great feedback and it went pretty well, but I don't know what happened during the crit.  I thought it looked pretty good, but maybe I was supposed to take it a little more seriously?  I'm not really sure.  I did what I was supposed to do, but overall it was not a very good experience.  It would have been more beneficial if we could have picked our own partners and maybe if we had a little more direction.  The feedback in the opening was all very positive, then I got blindsided in the crit.  The highlight if the semester was the Pearl Street show.  I did a lot of promoting and had a huge hand in setting up.  It was an awesome experience.  Not only was I so happy with my work in the space, but the show as a whole (and the opening) was excellent.  I had several offers from people to purchase some work, which is always flattering.  It is seriously making me think about trying to sell things after I graduate.  Standing in my room at  the opening I heard people talking about my installation, saying stuff like, "My mom had that," or, "This reminds me of my grandma's house."  Several people pulled me aside to ask questions about pieces in there or tell me their own story about some of the antiques.  That was great!  I guess I achieved what I was going for.  Several people also commented on my artist statement and said it was very well written.  It was a lot of hard work, but it really paid off.  The only thing that would have made that night better is if my friends Tina and Jessica could have come and if some of my co-workers from Glassworks would have come out.  I want them to know I am a real artist too! :)
I had a successful semester, conceptually, artistically, and scholastically.  The only thing that would have made this semester better on the whole is if there was no animosity in the studio.  Sometimes you can cut the air with a knife.  I think if is bad for everybody, creatively and spiritually.  I have pretty good groups for both my BA show and BFA show next semester.  I have the BA opening in early February, then the BFA in early April.  Unfortunately, our show this semester was so cool that the shows in the Barr gallery are going to seem kind of lame.  I can't quiet decide what I want to do for the BA show.  I'm thinking either some prints or some shadow boxes.  For the BFA show I am planning on something similar to what I did on Pearl.  Next semester I am taking Printmaking, Photography, Ceramics, and Senior Seminar.  I also have two trips to New York planned.  It should be a good semester!

Clean Fossils

http://www.flickr.com/photos/philipcollins/   Some more photos from the show are on Philip's flickr.  I took a lot of them!

What an exciting/exhausting week (and a half)!!  Our show was awesome.  Everyone's work looked great in the space.  I was really happy with my installation, and the feedback was all positive and supportive.  Here, on my blog, I have shared some photos that were added by Brian to Facebook and some pictures that were shared with me by my friend, Bobby.  The pictures I took can be found on the above link.  

It was a lot of hard work and long hours installing this show.  It was a great experience and I learned a lot.  I honestly think this was the best undergraduate show I have ever seen, and even better than a lot of shows I have ever been to.  We did a great job.  I am so happy with the outcome.  The reception was so fun.  So many people came out to support us.  What an excellent night!  And the after-party was a huge success (thank goodness).  Great memories with great people.

Thank you to everyone who helped out so much... Philip Collins, Chris Little, Ashley Stewart, Aberlyn Sweetland-May, Daniel Frank, Brian Harper... you all made those long hours of installing a fun, learning experience.  You are some of my favorite people and favorite artists.  I will truly miss seeing you so much and working with you after we graduate.

 

Objects in Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear

Miranda Becht

I remember sitting on the floral patterned couch in my living room, my feet not yet able to touch the avocado green shag carpet.  My grandma showed me different objects from the curio cabinet.  I took the small animal figurines and miniature oil lamp shades in my hands.  “But, be careful!”  I tenderly investigated the artifacts as she told me stories about them and how she came to have them.  These objects are to be revered.  These objects are old.  These relics have stories to tell!

          Looking back through my life, I realize that the objects I was surrounded by as a child have had a huge impact on my current sensibilities and aesthetic.  I feel instinctively drawn to gaudy antiques, vintage items, and kitsch figurines as an adult.  I am fascinated with collections and objects that come alive with meaning, history, and sentiment. These mementoes carry strong emotive connotations and associations with past spirits.  Antiques have the authority to tell the stories of their past and of the people who owned them.  These artifacts have residual fingerprints of thoughts, memories, and experience.   I am interested in this visual narrative. 

           I value the objects in my curio cabinet.  It is filled with cute porcelain kitty figurines, tiny glass animals, and antique salt and pepper shakers.  I desire to flaunt my acquisitions, accumulation, and display.  These objects are my reliquaries.  They are sacred.  They are precious artifacts.

          My work captures the precious and nostalgia of the antique artifacts of which I pay homage.  There is an autobiographical presence in my work, but I also hope to create pieces of sentiment and craft expressions of nostalgia for the viewer.  Remaking and recontextualizing objects from my past is an extremely intimate experience for me.  There is a sense of preservation in the work… a desire to preserve a memory.  Perhaps an idealization of the past. 

          I am in need to collect, remember, remake, and recontextualize.  There is a satisfaction achieved, as I am able to relive these moments and put myself back into my grandmother’s house just for a little while as I recreate and reminisce.  My hope is to give the viewer a little glimmer and invite them along with me to experience the feelings, reverence, and intrigue I have for these artifacts as I recontextualize them.  Perhaps the viewer will be able to create a narrative of their own.