As a final hurrah to the Summer Mud Hunt sale, two remaining pieces are now up for auction on eBay.
The first to end is the #7 CBCM Reflective, the Arabian stallion. This piece entailed some major restructuring of the original piece. I wish I had the presence of mind at the time to have snapped some in–progress photos of this piece, but since I had to work so fast and there were so many back–and–forth tweaks, it just slipped my mind. Because of all that, though, this piece taught me a great deal about what this porcelain can do―and it can do a lot! I'm actually surprised it could take so much abuse and still come together so nicely as I would have expected its memory properties to wreck the whole project. Nope! So this piece gave me the confidence and know–how to start my own hand–built porcelain pieces, which I hope to finally get going in about three months.
Then ending after the Arabian is the #4 Trinket Box (below), the one with the cracked heart. This piece was a real surprise because those cracks weren't there when I popped it into Big Al for the mature fire―but such is life with ceramics!
Before…
…and ta-da!
These Trinket Boxes are so fun to create! I have a special affection for functional art because the blend of use and creativity are two things that go great together in my opinion. Eventually I would love to get into sculpting equine prototypes for door knockers, facets, sinks, door knobs, shift tops, mugs, wine glasses, platters, and anything else that's a part of our daily lives. There's no reason why art can't be something we use, too!
And the CBCM Reflectives are a blast, as well―oh boy! Originally started as a means to teach me how this mid-fire porcelain behaved, these pieces have taken on a life of their own (as these projects tend to do) and opened my eyes in unexpected, welcome ways. One of the real benefits of this project was the opportunity to sculpt lots of radically different heads in a rather large scale, and relatively quickly (as compared to creating a full sculpture). Programming all those cranial qualities into my hands, and in that scale, will take my work to a new level (I hope).
I really enjoy the challenge of bas-relief because design and composition factor so heavily into it; being a quirky blend between 2D and 3D, bas-relief requires skills from both disciplines to pull off well. Add to that the difficulty in sculpting those perspective angles, and well…it puts me to work in ways 3D sculpture can't. And that's not only a ton of fun, it's a boatload of learning even more.
And learning is immensely important to me. The moment I'm just going through the motions is the moment I'll stop. I regard my work not just a form of expression, but more importantly, as a form of exploration of both myself and the subject. So I keep myself in learning mode as a prerequisite for stepping into my studio―the purpose of each new piece is to teach me something.
So all these new lessons will come back to my 3D sculpture work as I finish up my sproinging Arab mare, as well as Lirico and Stormwatch V.2s. Can't wait to see how porcelain informs my epoxy clay!
"It's important for the explorer to be willing to be led astray." ~ Roger von Oech