"the artist has one function--to affirm and glorify life."
- w. edward brown

Sunday, September 07, 2008

Quartz inversion and other technicalities

I had the day off and after making breakfast for Beth, I spent most of my day reading, and really trying to retain a lot if fascinating information on glazing. I've had the book I'm re-reading for a while, but the fun thing is to really absorb the information that is presented. A lot of it can be fairly technical in that the chemistry and physics of glazes is pretty intense, and yet it is so fun to learn.

In the studio, I've been trying to find a difficult balance between the creation of functional ware, for sale and for demonstration purposes, and my own more sculptural work. Right now I have to really plan my time for adding the hand built additions that I really like onto my pots. As of today, I have two large pots in the works that I'm planning on adding barnacles to. I've gone back to the barnacles for two reasons: one, I really like them! and two, I don't think I've really explored the potential of the barnacle form.

So much to do, and time flies! Speaking of which, I'm hoping to make a trip later in October to visit a couple grad schools. Hopefully it will end with acceptance later in the year (or early next!) but for now I need to focus and apply myself to my work... and it helps that it is such a nice distraction from retail!

3 comments:

Gayle and Rob said...

You know you could always make a field trip to FLorida and do some up close and personal looking at barnacles. You know that the ones you do on the pots are the dead ones? Living barnacles look quite a bit different with thier movable "lips" and waving tentacles. I know your travel right now is to grad schools, but tuck it into the back of your mind. Mom

Justy said...

Yeah, go to the beach. It's for research... That's why people study carbonate geology.

I don't think you've fully exploited the pretentiousness of the barnacle form yet either. I can't wait to see what you've got in the works.

MLE said...

So nice to see the artistic process! I didn't realize there was so much to explore when talking about the potnetial of barnacles! Let me know when you head to mid-west -- I'll try to meet up with you!