SNC Ceramics

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Heath Pierson

heathpierson.com

Michael Ballew

Eric Burden

Flor Widmar

Molly goes to CCACA...

Clayton Keyes, CCACA Lecture.

Clayton Keyes makes figurative ceramic pieces. He mostly works with the male body that interacts with each other or animals. Keyes creates work around themes like relationships and emotional narratives. His work tells stories, stories that most everyone can find related to their lives. In his lecture he mentioned that most his figure seem to depict how resilient we are as humans.

Keyes ‘s work is based his life experiences. “Contextually, my work stems from my own life growing up gay and the experiences that struggle presented me with. My efforts to hide my sexuality meant that any exploration of the human, and specifically male forms were limited. And so I studied the figure by drawing it secretly. As a result of those years of self-censorship, I find myself needing to evoke feelings of suppression through my sculpture. Consequently at times my work has been somewhat unapologetically forward in form and theme” Says Keyes. Like I do he thinks about how humans interact with their environment. There was a particular piece of his that stood out to me. It was a life size man who has killed and collected a bag of frogs but the sculpture had caught him in a contemplative position. He was holding a frog with an arrow he had just shot through it. The look on the face is one that is realizing that human and nature are connected. That piece really struck me.
In is CCACA lecture as an audience we also caught a glimpse as to how he works. Keyes primarily uses slabs, and uses clay like soldate. He builds his tall figures in sections. To make sure the walls of his work are consistent, he tends to push out shapes from the slabs rather than working additively. He works fairly fast to avoid cracking in the clay and uneven drying.

Clayton Keyes currently works at University of Nevada Reno, and will soon start a new teaching job in Salt Lake City. He completes his BFA at University of Oklahoma, and then went on to obtain is MFA from University of Tulsa.

"Parasite"

Molly Allen

Cone 3 stoneware, found wood, acrylic paint

2013

In this piece I was thinking about relationships that could not be placed. I want the viewer to assume that this piece is underwater, which speaking to an ongoing concept of mine, water being the subconscious. I wanted to figure feel a little unsettling but also playful.

"Cohere, Unite and Listen"

Molly Allen

Cone 3 and 06 Stoneware, string, found wood, glass, acrylic paint

2013

In this piece I was speaking about how we are all connected, and I was thinking about at what point does a human become animal and what are the boundaries that separate us. We all have generate 6-9 feet of electromagnetic impulses and I aim to capture the feeling of what it mean to be close to someone else or bathing in their energy.

Dance of Childhood

Margret Keelan

2010

Keelan's work is so strong because I has so much integrity and tricks the viewer into questioning what the material is. It also is very unsettling and speaks to past.

Oppisite

Erika Sanada

2013

Self Portrait of Sorts.

Shadqe Delgato

Undergraduate

2013

This was an undergraduate, and I enjoyed this piece so much because of its surface decoration it was perfect for the piece and really enhanced it. I am also attracted to the colors and how they blend.

The Swing

Amber Aguire

2013

There is a sense of play and gesture in this work that I am very attracted to, Aguire is also thinking of how to not use a pedestal and display creatively. I get the sense that she questions using the rabbit figure as I do, and that is evident in her surface. It looks that at any time it

could fall off and a new form could emerge.

I admire this work for so many reasons, it looks so realist and is technically perfect. But there is still a meaning and thee is so much emotion in this piece as well as her other one. They are seamless.

Esther Shimazu

Color Ox

2011

Ceramic

Esther Shimazu's work is very interesting she make large, naked, bald women that seem to be almost embody the word jolly and they are very fleshly and i am attracted to her surface treatment and her style is so consistent.

Clayton Keyes

At CCACA I attended Clayton Keyes lecture. I met him at an opening in Reno last month and was immediately intrigued by him. I knew then that it was a must see talk. His lecture was probably the best I have been to in the last five years of NCECA’s and CCACA’s. Clayton explained that after undergrad he floated around for a few years not really making work. However his father passing and his nephew’s birth put him in gear. This is when the thoughts of loss and legacy became prominent in his work.

Clayton’s work is expressive and flawless in my opinion. He works with the human figure and more so nude children. This is because Keyes contemplates legacy and what we leave for future generations. His work reflects the mark humans leave on the environment. “Walking with Death” depicts a young boy with a dead oil covered bird. This piece was made after the BP oil spill. When images flooded TV of animals dead or chocking to death on oil, Keyes brought this into the gallery. Showing the innocents of both the children and the animals who both end up dealing with the mistakes of past generations.

Keyes explains in his lecture that growing up gay and wanting to explore sexuality that he felt needed to be hidden from the world. This pushed him into studying and drawing the figure secretly. Keyes work evokes feelings of sexual suppression as well as being unapologetically forward.

I think that his building technique is very interesting and somewhat untrue to the clay world. Keyes hand builds a cylinder, and then pushes the anatomy from the inside out. He builds each part separately and attaches them when leather hard. For larger figures legs and arms are attached post fire with epoxy. Every piece is bisque fired then painted with a base of white house paint. Then the piece is hit with a sand blaster to open up the pores. Keyes then paints with layers of oil paints, some are even dawn on. In the lecture it sounded like he used whatever was around the studio house paint, oil pastels, oil paint, pencil, pen, ect.

"Limerence"
Amanda Dabel
Cone ^04 stoneware, wood, spray foam, paint
2013

"Defiance"
Amanda Dabel
Cone ^04 stoneware, sand
2013

"Question"
Amanda Dabel
Cone ^04 stoneware
2013

"Fallen Angel"
Amber Aguire
Amber's uses the bunny in a different way. Most of her work is on the darker side. The forms are flawless and the unique surface detail really makes her stand out.

This was my favorite piece out of the student shows at CCACA. The piece was made by an undergraduate at chico state. The large rusty bar held ceramic and glass pieces using magnates. A set of the magnates lost power and let a piece drop. The really made it in my opinion.

Hollie Dilley's Work is amazingly detailed. Every part of the piece is thought about. The mixed media part of her work is my favorite. Her work show a high control over the material.

"Orange Wall-rus"
Hollie Dilley

"The Swing"
Amber Aguire

Arthur Gonalez
He is the master of emotion and the human figure. There is so much going on in each piece he makes it always sucks the viewer in.

"Opposite"
Erika Sanada
The attention to detail is amazing, she shows a demand for the material. The wrinkles are realistic and make the piece look alive.

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

NCECA 2013
Flor at airport in Houston

Suzanne Shield-Polk
Life Journey (2)
This Video and ceramic installation is an extension of an ongoing investigation into the concept of life as a journey. Images Documenting personal and family travels are projected onto sculptural bottle forms. The projected images reference momentary experiences, sites, vistas, and snapshots of individuals which metaphorically imply stages of life , personal introspection and the transitory essence of the temporal moment. The bottle forms represent the notion of the human body as a vessel.

Hands on: An Immediate Approach for Capturing the Drawn.
Mason stain and 31/34 Frit
Making Transfer Paper

This is an easy way to trace a drawing an add it to clay.