Being a mostly functional potter, I really enjoy the nudge to just be creative and explore through clay. I usually do this when I wood fire. I have no set objects that I make for the anagama kiln. I start to play and see where I end up. I wish the firings were more frequent, so that I could push things farther in the process...
And then an other Art from the Ashes exhibit comes along. Last exhibit I made two large hanging wall tiles. I had tried this before with horrible results: cracking in the bisque firing. I changed scale and the clay and made more. This time it worked so close to perfect. The tiles had small boxes to put artifacts from the Deukmejian Wilderness Park burn site. I chose wood, metal, bone and glass. I really enjoyed making.
The founder of AFTA, Joy, told me during the last show that she hoped to do another truly highlight all the talents of the AFTA artist. I was on it and got a few pod pieces into the wood kiln. The closed thrown forms fired amazingly well. I have inset copper flashing and glass into them.
The thrill of the up coming “Inspire” show, is that we also get to exhibit non-AFTA themed work.
I went back to my wall tiles for one piece. I made a series of tiles based on my love of trees. I once again changed the scale. They are smaller: 6.5”x6.5”x1.5” I carved trees, branches, leaves and bark. I use oxides on the carved areas and glazed on a reserved area. I tried to invoke, sky, sun, night, snow and life with the glazes I chose. I’m really happy with the results.
I also included into the selection process some of my wood fired leaf bowls. And to round it all out, a tea set. I’d like the viewing public to get a fell for all of my pots, and maybe a bit of me.
~Sally Anne Stahl
No comments:
Post a Comment