Week 3

This week has been pretty productive but not as productive as it could have been. I have been working on a 3 part mold of a 2-liter bottle and ran into a complication. I made the bottom part of the mold twice, and both times I got air bubbles in the plaster. I think that they were getting stuck under neath of the bottom of the bottle because I was trying to do the mold on its side. So with a little innovation and a lot of heavy stuff I had to come up with a way to set up the mold so that the air bubbles would not get trapped underneath the bottle. As the pictures show it was quite a task to make the mold this way, but i just couldn't live with a mold that was not smooth and bubble free. This process was very time consuming, but in the process I learned a lot about what i need to do the next time to hopefully only have to do each step of the process once.
Friday I went to school and worked on casting bottles and cups, as well as making the third part of my 2-liter mold for the third time. Third time is the charm :).... I hope. I also loaded a bisque kiln with my cups, bottles and thrown cylinders, as well as whatever else was on the shelves to be loaded.

Week 2

Geez... All of these snow days are really getting pretty annoying when it comes to getting some work done in the studio. But besides all of this snowy excitement I have finished my 20 cylinders and have made 6 new bottles and about 13 styrofoam cups to add to the collection of white trash that is piling up around my studio. I have quite a few molds other pieces of trash in the works to make molds of including a 2-liter, which would be a 3 part mold, a to go box, egg carton, milk jug... I am also going to try to make "paper" from slip and if it doesn't work I may buy some Karaflex, which has the look of paper. I don't have any photos yet because i seem to not be able to remember my camera but I will add them as soon as I can.

We Meet Again

So here we are, back at the beginning of another semester with high hopes and lots of ideas. Over the break I made a few bottles and cups to continue with my idea of white trash. I will continue to make many more of these and also add lots of different pieces of trash to what will eventually be a massive amount of "white trash".

I have also been throwing some cylinders this week for the new throwing projects that we have been assigned. I am very excited about these assignments because they give us a chance to not only work on our own projects but it also gives us a chance to let go of those ideas and work on things that are less stressing. Without these throwing assignments it seems to be hard to find the time to sit down and throw, so I am happy to have this time built into our schedules.

That's all for this week!

Final critique

I must say that critique day was quite long and by the end of it I was really ready to go home, but I think overall this was a good way to do the critique. Although if we have more students than we did this semester in the future I do recommend that we separate the crit into two days.

During my critique I talked about how my idea for the styrofoam cups was transforming into something other than just useful cups. During my last BFA critique it was brought up that the idea for the styrofoam cups was taking a step backwards from the work that I have previously done. I was suprised by this comment but after thinking about it I would agree with it. but I feel that this idea just hasn't evolved into what it is suppose to be. So I am going to continue to push this idea so that it is not a step back but a few steps forward. It is just not there yet.

During my critique we also talked about going to the landfill and really looking around and taking it all in. And over the break I plan to do just that. I am very excited to see where all of the waste that we get rid of goes, and how it is disposed of. I work as a "custodial artist" so I see the waste that people throw away everyday and just how much recyclable material goes to the landfill everyday. But that is just a few companies and i think that this trip will really open up my eyes to just how much recyclable materials go to the landfill.

I have found that i am very attracted to this idea of white trash and large amounts of it, and the fact that it is porcelain and sort of this precious sort of "trash". I plan to continue to explore this idea from now until my senior show. By sticking with this idea for a longer period of time I hope to answer the questions that i have the most trouble with...Why? and what is the big concept behind the work? I really just need to learn how to talk about my work.

The comment that Chris had about weather all of these porcelain bottles would be considered trash was very interesting to me and I still find myself asking and thinking about this question, and I am still unsure. But it did have me thinking about other ways to display this trash in other environments. I really want to fill the front pond at IUS with them.

I have many ideas for all of this trash, but I think that one of the main things that I need to do is think about why. Is it about the trash, is it about recycling, is it about the landfill, is it about the future with all of this trash? I am just not sure yet.

White trash

I'm pretty sure that this week couldn't have gotten any busier. I had lectures, critiques, test, art shows and sales. busy busy... Anyway, besides all of this I managed to come in for a bit on Friday and make some cups and bottles. I am very pleased with the way that the bottles are coming out of the molds. The labels look really realistic, almost like the real glass bottles were spray painted. It was really nice to come into the studio and actually have time to work for a decent amount of time, and with the break coming up i am really hoping to get a lot more work done.
Until next time...

Making molds

This week was a really busy one. I had paintings to work on, molds to make, and symposiums to attend. this week I have started to make some molds of bottles. These will be the first of many different items that I am going to cast. I want to make a bunch of different molds of items that we throw away everyday. These items will be put together into an installation called white trash. This project could take me quite awhile to do.
I have also made a challenge for myself to make 200 cups for the guests at my wedding in May. I had wanted to do this for a little but, but when we were at the lectures at UK and they were talking about the process of throwing a large number of items and how this makes you appreciate the clay and makes you learn a lot about it and processes, it seems all the more appropriate to do something like this.

This week unfortunately I have been a bit under the weather and haven't had the chance to do as much ceramics work as I would have hoped to. I did make a new mold of some medium size cups and have thought about what I want to work on in the future. I have been thinking about doing a space lab show with my cups and a few other items (milk jugs, soda bottles, clothes...)that get thrown away. Like I said previously I want to throw these items into a trashcan and then remove the can leaving only the items, in the shape of the can. i still have a few more molds to make before i can get started on this project.
Sorry, I don't have any pictures this week. but there will be more to come later.
there was also the day of the dead show this week and it turned out very good. I got a lot of compliments on my skeleton babies and on my Madonna's, which I found very refreshing and exciting. Positive feedback is really the best motivator.