Blong.

 I am pretty happy with this piece.  I am excited to hang it on the wall and see it in the space.  It's pretty heavy though.  I will need some help hanging it on a stud.  The hanger I attached to the back claims it can hold up to 200 pounds, so lets hope the wall is nice and sturdy.  I also have another shadowbox I will need to hang on the wall.  I need to go get that either tonight or tomorrow.  I wish it wasn't pouring down rain.  This is so inconvenient for this show we are trying to put together.

 Here is my grandma's old coffee table I still need to take over to Pearl St.  I got most of the furniture moved over today.  I am still freaking out a bit about getting everything done on time.  I still need to move this, my old green chair, and a curio cabinet.  I really wish it wasn't pouring down rain because I would prefer not to get these pieces wet.  I really want to get all the furniture over there and the things hung on the wall before I start unloading ceramics in the room.  I am so stressed about this.

 Here is where all my stuff used to be... my house feels naked!

 Here are boxes of ceramics and things I have packed up for the show.  It's going to be a bear getting it all over there.  But, as long as I can get everything moved in a timely manner it is going to be lots of fun creating my environment.  I am so pissed that it is going to be pouring down rain for the next few days!!!!

I wish I would have taken some photos of the stuff I have done in the room so far.  I hope this turns out well!  I am seriously freaking out due to time constraints and the weather and all the work I have to get done in it!  It is going to take another day to do the rest of the moving, then I need to hang the wall pieces (the tall shelf needs to attached to the wall, two shelf/shadow boxes need hung, and I have a few small shelves, and some ceramic wall decor), and a couple days to unpack and place things.  I have a lot of arranging to do.... and more curtains to hang.  At least Philip and I got the majority of the furniture moved today.  I am soaking wet and feeling overwhelmed... excited, and stressed..... 

 Here are some photos of the rooms I like for my installation at 501 Pearl St.  I am going to go with the white one, although I love the feel of the darker upstairs space.  The lighter downstairs room will be better for a number of reasons.  It will be easier to light and easier to fill and get the tight, jam-packed feeling I am going for.  I will also be able to get it nice and clean, which will look nice with my work.  I am excited to go over tomorrow and start cleaning and get my hands on that cabinet.  I am going to bring it home and clean it up.  It is going to be just about perfect for one of my pieces.  I need to measure the longest wall in the room to find out if the mantle I am planning on building is going to work.

 I got my gold animal tree in the student show.  I am pleased I got a piece in, although I am surprised about the one that was chosen.  I thought for sure my pitcher and one of my prints would get in.  Out of the five I entered I thought this one had the least chance of getting in.  But, I do like it.  I was pretty bummed about most of the pieces I got out of my luster kiln I fired.  This gold isn't quite as nice as the other gold I had, and the colors look pretty weird.  I do really like the mother of pearl (it's on the little sheep in one of the photos below).  The show that is going up in the Barr gallery seems to be a little sparse, and I am not too impressed with some of the work that was chosen.  I liked the last two years a lot better.

 Here are some more pieces I lustered.  I loaded that kiln today.

 Here are some of the pieces I got out this past week.

 And, I purchased some more pieces for my installation, most notably these two tables to use as "pedestals."  I got really good deals on them.  There are also some more little things I have been collecting and working on.  I also got some glass shelves made for one of the curio cabinets I got.  They were way more expensive than I expected.  I do not even want to know how much money I have spent on this show.  I got some lace curtains to hang on the windows in the room.  The shadow boxes need to be finished, I am still undecided about the mantle, I might need to buy a rug, and I have three more kilns I am planning on firing.  Installing is going to be a lot of hard work, but I am in pretty good shape.

This past week I fired a kiln.  It was an 04 glaze.  The pink glaze I mixed up still looks bad, no matter what I try differently.  I've got some different things planned for these guys.

 I also loaded a kiln today.  It's another 04 glaze.  I am going to load an 018 tomorrow.  My new lusters came in, so I am excited to see how they turn out.

 I have been spending a lot of time collecting.  This lamp is a gem, and I got this table to go with it.  I also got some nice doilies for my installation.

 Here is the claw footed cabinet I found.  I stained and polyurethaned it.  It looks really nice now.

 Here is the first of three shadowbox shelves being worked on.  The cedar wood that this is made from is wood that came from my grandma's old house.  It used to be paneling on the wall.  I thought that was a nice touch, which goes well with my theme.  It is going to have a wood backing and glass front with a frame around it.  This is the biggest of the three being made.  I can't decide if I am going to stain this one or not.  The color of this wood is nice, but I guess it depends on the color of the wood used on the backing and frame.  I want it to match.

 And here are some more things I have been collecting and working on.  There is a miniature shadowbox shelf and some more items, some of which I attained from thrift stores and some my mom gave me that belonged to my grandmother.  I also will be getting an antique rocking horse to put in my show.  It's going to be pretty cool.

This week in Clayworld...

 This past week I built a new animal tree.  I made it all white.  It looks pretty classy the way it is, but it is going to be all gold everything.  I put in my order for new lusters, which was pretty expensive.  I am getting more gold, mother of pearl, turquoise, and purple.  I fired this kiln to 04.  The tree turned out pretty nice.  I was a little nervous that the low fire animals might melt again, but it worked out just fine.  I clear glazed a lot of dogs and little animals I had from a long time ago.  Several will be getting lustered.  I really hope the shipment gets here in plenty of time to fire an 018 before the show. 
I have been thinking about some things.  Brian seems pretty intent upon me doing bigger, more free form stacks of animals, which I was totally getting down with.  But, the work I have been making is very site specific and is being made specifically for my installation.  I do not think that a bigger, asymmetrical stack of animals will fit into the room.  The whole reason for the shape I am currently doing is to mimic the fruit tree, which adorned the tables of many a 1970's household.  I think the fruit tree is being overlooked, and the idea is morphing into a different concept.  I will say, I do like the idea, and it is something that I will not discount, but I do not think it fits in with my little granny kitsch room installation I am building.  A little old lady would not put an asymmetrical, free flowing stack of upside down animals on her mantle.  She would want a perfect stack of right-side-up cute little animal tree.  The homage to the fruit tree is getting lost, and I think it needs to be brought back into sight.  I do like the ideas of bigger, weirder stacks, but not for this installation.  I do not think it makes sense with what I am doing.

 Here are just some more shots in the kiln, pre-fire.

 I also made some more lil babes.

 I am really happy with the way our luster kiln came out.  The gold dressed little boy is just the right amount of creepy precious.  And, the duck, well, he speaks for himself.

 I am going to refire a few of these pieces because I think I may have put the glaze a tad too thin in some spots.  And the pink glaze I put on a couple looks horrible, so I am hoping more clear might help it out a little.

 Here is the finished tree and some of the other pieces from that kiln.  A few of the dogs and bunnies will get some gold.

Today I bought an awesome "pedestal" for my installation.  It is an old record cabinet with claw feet.  With some TLC it is going to be pretty nice.
I have been doing some juggling between school, art, work, life, looking through thrift stores for perfect additions to my installation, and working my ass off for art history.  I have been feeling the burn.  This is the first time I have felt so burnt out that I am actually done with school and ready to get the hell out.  I have been running on E in many aspects of my life right now.  But, I am pretty excited about my plans for the show.  It is costing some money, but as Tiffany once told me, "It costs a lot of money to make good art."  That is true.  I hope I have time to finish everything I want to get done.  Welp, I need to study for my Japan art history test.  I am about sick of looking at Japanese words. Haha.

Keep a wet wipe in case a bum try to touch me. Eww.

My spacelab show opening was Wednesday.  The opening went alright.  I just wasn't too excited about the show.  I did like it better once it was ready and I got the lights on it.  The prints looked pretty cool with the ceramics paired with them.  I got some good feedback at the opening.  Natalie and Donna seemed to really like it.  They said it worked a lot better set up like this than at the BFA crit.  And that it was nice to see together.  Adrienne was super pumped about my work, which was very exciting.  I really respect her.  She loved my animal tree and said she would like to attain one.  I guess I have arrived.
The class crit on Thursday was quite a shock.  I was kind of blind-sided.  I do really appreciate the suggestions I get from Brian.  I really respect him as a thinker and an artist.  He has made my work grow so much since I have been working under him.  I do think that IUS needs to get a class on proper etiquette for critiques.  It was my understanding that critiques are to talk about the work in a constructive way in order to help the artist grow and improve their work.  I did not know it was appropriate to personally criticize a person.  I am seriously sick of some of the snooty attitudes in the ceramics department that act like there is some sort of competition going on.  We all pay tuition to be here and we all have the same rights to the studio, materials, and so on.  Brian has the attitude and philosophy that ceramics is a community and that we should all work together to grow as artists.  I really wish it was like that.  I am appalled by some of the things that are said and attitudes that are expressed at critiques (BFA, classroom, and senior seminar alike).  We are adults and this is college.  This problem should have been resolved a long time ago... and never should have happened.  I know I am griping again, but I was seriously shocked by the audacity of some of the things said at this last crit.  Criticisms regarding my work are of course expected, and I would hope that any one of my classmates who critiques me would want to help me as an artist.  That is certainly the attitude I have when I participate in the critiques of others.  I would never dream of making attacks or "critiquing" someone's life.... if that was what was being attempted?  I am so confused by what was said.  Not only was it false, but it was out of line.  I would love to listen to helpful crits and tips from people I respect as artists and thinkers, but some of the bullshit I hear is outrageous.  I can not believe that some things are allowed to be said, and it is allowed to continue.  I was under the impression that the spacelab was a fun place to experiment with ideas, which was what I was doing.  I have my idea of what I think is "good art" and what I do not think is "good art," as I'm sure everyone does.  But just because someone might not like, or even agree, with the type of art I make does not mean I should come personally under attack. But, what am I even talking about?  I haven't made anything in the last 6 months.  Unbelievable.  But, this does go way deeper than that.  There was a lot of psychology going on.  Snake in the grass. 
I guess it is going to be personal and cut throat from now on? There is definitely something in the air... and it stinks.

 I made some more animals for my gold tree.  It's going to be tight.  I have a kiln reserved for this week.  I can't decide if I want to fire another tree or play around with some of the new toys I got.

I bought this new curio cabinet for my show.  It is nice, and such a good deal!!  I found some new critters that make nice additions to my collection.  I am really thinking about the comment from Brian about thinking of myself as a sculptor for a while.  It is a very interesting idea.  I need to roll around with that for a while.  Perhaps another conversation with Mr. Harper would be helpful.  I am going to fire some of the new figurines with luster... like the creepy crawling babies dress, and the duck and bunny in the bottom picture.  They spoke to me and said they wanted to be gold.  It is going to be fun putting this together.

Here we are.

     I played around with some lusters last week.  Actually, I fired the kiln to 018 three times, trying to get it right.  The babes went through all tree firings.  So, I know it is not detrimental to refire luster, and it is definitely helpful to apply a 20 minute hold to the firing process.  I have watched Ashley apply luster, so I was a little familiar with gold application.  I did, however, have some unattractive brush strokes in thin areas.  I applied a super thin coat over these areas and refired (with the hold).  After the gold babe came out of the kiln the second time it was much improved.  There were minimal visible brush strokes.  But, I was going for perfection, and repeated the steps.  I should have left it the way it was, but I had to try.  After it came out of the third firing, some more of the brush strokes were visible and some areas are a little tarnished looking.  It's not bad, but not perfect.  I just had to do it, though.  If not, I would have wondered.
      The owl was fired once.  I used the same gold luster on a few areas (above the beak, on the talons, and the stripe on the base) but most of the work on this piece was done using a gold luster pen.  I am very pleased with these results.  I did some patterning on the body of the owl.  The pen gives a nice application and I can get little details.  There are little to no flaws in the gold using the pen.  It is a nice way to add embellishments.  I am excited with the results.  It really adds that something that this owl needed to satisfy me.  I can really see myself pushing this technique.

     I also played around with pink luster.  I am underwhelmed with these results.  I do like the color, but it is not what I was hoping for as a luster.  The baby went through all three firings.  It showed brush marks very bad.  I think the main problem was that I was applying it like a gold.  It obviously needs to be much thicker.  It looked much nicer after the third fire, but it is still not quite what I expected or wanted.  It does make a nice overglaze for putting over colors.  I put it on a few areas of the african lady.  It adds a nice surface to those areas.  It is on her eyelids, hair, lips, and nipples.  It adds a shiny pink quality to the color that was already there, which I like.  Again, not what I expected in a "luster" but I think I can work with it to get some colors I am excited about.  It might be nice to glaze the babes with either a glaze or underglaze with the shiny clear coat, then put the color luster overglaze on top to get a nice color.  Also, it seems that putting it over glaze greatly minimizes the brush marks, which was a problem on the pink babe.

    Now, I am trying to decide if I want to go ahead and order the other colors I have in my basket.  I am fairly certain I will get the mother of pearl.  I like the effect Ashley got on her skull.  It would probably be nice over colored glaze or underglaze as well.  I am considering the turquoise and purple color lusters.  These two are from a different website, and a different brand, so they may be completely different.  It would be nice if they are more of what I think of as "luster."  I know I will need more gold.  I am planning on doing an animal tree completely in gold.  That will be nice.  I also need to consider purchasing a refillable gold luster pen for detail work.  I am just concerned it might not have as good an application as the felt tip pen.  It was really nice to draw with.  I seriously have my doubts about how long the felt tipped pen will last though.  It does not appear to have much luster in it.

My BFA crit was Tuesday.  I have included a photo of my spread.  A big portion (and energy) of my week was spent in preparation of the critique.  I really value so much of the feedback I got.  The new professors, in particular Emily and Natalie, had some great comments.  I am very pleased with the constructive tips/positive response I got from mostly all of the professors. It is really refreshing to hear professors speak well of my work and show me that they really like it.  Emily and Deb (as well as some others) came up to me after the crit to tell me how impressed they were and that they really enjoy my work.  That was an awesome feeling.  Countless others approached me to tell me how well I handled myself in the face of blatantly biased, hateful bashes from a bully.  Ashley and I both got this unwarranted treatment unjustly (as always).  Seriously, I would love to listen to constructive criticisms, but if personal feelings can't be left at the door and hate is going to come spewing out of one's mouth, it is just a waste of everyone's time. And one makes oneself look like an ass.  In front of everyone.  I thought it was kind of funny.  Haters, they gonn' hate.  Overall, it was a smashing success.

Finally...

I had my kiln reserved for Thursday through Monday, 1st for a bisque, then a cone 7.  So, I worked all day Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to make as many little animals as I could and to make a mold for a base.  I went with the mold because of my back situation (even though I do not think it was necessarily easier on my back) and I like the decorative aspects of the base I chose to mold.  It was quite a challenge making the mold because the base got stuck in the mold, and it is pretty heavy.  I broke my fruit tree in the process.  Poor Lucile.  But, I got my mold done on Wednesday and poured two bases on Thursday.  The mold was still fairly wet, so that presented it's own challenges.  I loaded them into my bisque on Thursday night, pretty much soaking wet.  I was skeptical if they would make it.  I used a 20 hour pre-heat, and they made it alright, although they do have some cracks in them unfortunately.  I am not really surprised.  I'm glad they are at least in one piece.  I really just needed to have it done so I could show an animal tree at my BFA critique.

I also got some babies in the bisque and used some clear glaze on them.  I plan on using a different color luster on each.  I know I will do one gold and one pink.  I found some nice colors that I am pretty excited about.  I got the gold and pink.  I am going to test those out before I order the other colors I want.  I am thinking turquoise, purple, and mother of pearl.  I spent some time this week looking at different lusters and researching on it.  If I get all the colors I want it is going to be pretty pricey!! But, I think it will be worth it.  My works needs a little luster.

I glazed an African lady for my spacelab show.  I am planning on putting her on a pedestal in front of my racial artifact monotype.  The main focus of my show is going to be prints with corresponding ceramic pieces with them.

Here is a shot of my animal tree before I placed it in the kiln.

Precarious!

Some finished pieces:

The colors on the lady do not look quite as nice in the photo, but I got some cool effects on her.

Finally! My animal tree worked (for the most part).  The larger one is a little lopsided.  It leaned in the kiln, but for the most part it is a success.  Also, a larger crack appeared in the base after this firing.  But, it was a technical win.  For my next one, I know to spend a little more time on the base, like let it dry slowly instead of forcing it.  Hopefully that will remedy some of the problems.

The baby tree is nice.  It has some really nice areas where the glazes ran together and mixed.

Here are the clear glazed babes.  I plan on loading a luster kiln tomorrow night.

My BFA crit is tomorrow.  I am feeling quite a bit better since I will have this work to show and talk about.  I am pleased with the other work I have, but these are more in the area I plan on working for this semester.  Hopefully tomorrow will go as good as my first critique.  I was really pissed and frightened on Saturday when I went in and my kiln that I reserved for my cone 7 had been taken.  I had a note on it and everything saying I would be in Saturday to unload, and I had it in my name until Monday.  But I went in and it was already unloaded and firing up.  I was seriously livid.  I was already pissed because my back hurt.... but I called Ashley and fortunately she was cool with me loading in the front kiln even though she had it reserved for one of the days.  I realize it probably was not malicious, but it was negligent and today when I approached the person about it they were pretty rude to me and did not seem at all apologetic about the mix up.  So, that was pretty rude.  It really wouldn't have rubbed me so wrong if I wasn't in such a pinch to have this done by tomorrow.  But, it worked out and my stuff came out pretty successfully. 

I also spent some time looking through my prints and picking out some I wish to show at my crit, and matting and framing some for my spacelab show next week.  After I finish with this blog I need to pack up my ceramics and put the prints in my portfolio.  I also need to go to the library tomorrow and borrow one of my pitchers back for the crit.  Did I mention I have three pieces in the library art show?  A baby face pitcher, a monotype, and my bed pan. I hope I will be able to set up tomorrow during class.  I need to hang and use a table or two for my ceramics.

I have also been experimenting with some acrylic mediums on ceramics as a way to better incorporate decoration.  It is going ok.  I am optimistic with the results.  Not overwhelmed, not underwhelmed.  Just whelmed, I suppose.