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.




   

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.

Colby Parsons
Texas Woman's University
Stove, 2012
Ceramic with projection













                                            Colby Parsons
                                            Fried Eggs

 Colby Parsons
Bedroom Floor, 2012

 Colby Parsons











                             Colby Parsons

MUSHROOMS!

http://mushroomocean.blogspot.com/2013/01/art-mycelium-architecture-phil-rosss.html

Molly Goes to NCECA

I cherish all my experiences at the NCECA conference. There are infinite opportunities everywhere just waiting to be taken. This year in particular I saw so many shows, and so many artists. My mind is bursting at the seems! 

Margret Keelan

An Artist that always catches my eye is Margret Keelan. Her Surface is amazing, I really connected with this specific piece because it seems to talk about human vs. nature relationships. 

Blue Eyes
Marget Keelan.

"For the past few years my sculptures have been glazed, stained, fired, then glazed, stained and fired again to give the surfaces the look of disintegrating paint over weathered wood. This softening and reduction of form so that its essential nature is revealed is a metaphor I am using for life being lived, my exploration of the process of growing up and growing older. These latest small sculptures recall the “Santos” figures of Mexico and Central America and incorporate a reproduced 19th century doll head. Although my figures echo contemporary concerns, the borrowing of earlier styles gives them more of an ageless quality. Linda Gastrom, Professor of Art, states, “The subject conveys a sweet sentimentality twisted into melancholy that touches my emotional core and helps me remember the complexities of childhood and life”.

Juan Granados

Tesas Tech University

These pieces were very intriguing, not only because I have used butterfly imagery recently, but because of (again) the human and nature element. I was also attracted to these forms because of the color and the shape. It feels weird for me to look at this piece and I seem to notice the form second and the surface design first. Normally it is the other way around. I barley even noticed what kind of form these butterflies inhabit. I also appreciate that the raku process is not very evident. Especially in the detail image it is obvious this piece is not outwardly happy but more serious and contemplative.

Raku Fired Ceramic with image transfer.





Renee Brown.

Renee Brown
2012
This work is amazing it is not overtly ceramic and is the small specs of natural were chosen to create a natural masterpiece.

"My sculptural works are crafted from a personal vernacular of beauty.
Stones, bones and mineral specimens offer endless inspiration to me as I create. Introducing the shapes and textures of these objects to my imagination, I allow myself to expand the possibilities of surface and composition beyond what might rationally be found in nature.While some of the referenced objects in my work exist in scientific catalogs, many are inventions of my creative vision.  This blurred line between reality and created reality intrigues me.  With an intention to present a joyful visual experience, I invite the viewer to explore the nuances of these curious compositions and to embark on a personal imaginative adventure".


Janice Jakielski

     There was a whole room filled with this kind of work, the first thought that came to my head was the contemporary feel but Jakielski was using things from a pervious time period.I was immediately attracted to all of the color and found my self think how the use of the mannequin is really bizarre. I really enjoyed how she choose to display her work I think it really takes the work to a new level the strips and designs on the wall really make the work pop.
 "I make objects for the body in order to transform the world and how we perceive the world. As mediated experience due to the rise of technology has prevailed I am interested in the function of the object against the growth of depersonalization. Objects have the ability to cultivate intimate relationships and provide self-awareness through encounter".

Merrie Wright

Dazzle on Dry Land 003 (Downey Woodpecker) 2012
Earthenware.

This piece was so wonderful in person I could tell there is something on the branch but I could not tell what is was for the first few minutes. I thought that maybe the thing perched on the stick was a robot of some kind. Upon closer inspection I realized that the thing was a bird and the hole piece was completely natural and it was just the surface design that impacted the form so much.The treatment of the surface was so industrial, but on a completely natural form. This piece keeps reoccurring in my head when I contemplate my work and where it is going.


Linda Swanson

Oculus 2013
Water, Bentonite Clay, Glass aquarium.
Swanson seems to be talking about an artist relationship with their materials. The first thing that drew me into this piece was the the inside landscape that she was creating in the aquarium. It was beautiful and serene yet foreign. During the opening it started to leak and I am not sure if that was intentional.

"The piece is built fresh each day. Swanson explores the properties of clay as the potter knows it: malleable, wet, expanding and contracting. She selected bentonite specifically for its property of expanding up to 15 times its original size when placed in water. The glass orb, with a steadily building landscape of bits of deconstructed clay falling from the billowy mound at the surface, creates an alien landscape that seems to draw in most everyone that walks by it". Says Allison Currie. www.glasstire.com/2013/03/22/nceca-beautiful-affordable-art-for-your-pottery-filled-life-part-2-featured-artists-project-space/

Ryan Takaba

Porcelain, Mum, water.

I love these creations because they are living and the clay is holding water which is sustaining the flowers life.  The installation consisted of a bunch of these small contraptions and they were delicate and beautiful and made me think about how greenhouses and us nurturing nature as if nurtures us.
"I am interested in aspects of daily ritual, specifically in relation to a flower and a vase, the cutting, assembling, and connecting of the mums to complete a composition and the sorting of stem sizes to regulate its flow of water. This process of transformation engages themes of longing, waiting, and return"

Marina Kuchinski

"Avriri"
Earthenware cone 6 oxidation
Fan, Thread

I fell in love with the gesture of this piece It instantly puts me in a memory of enjoying the wind in a car like a dog. The gesture of her pieces are perfect. The fan is a vital addition. 
"I am interested in the relationship between physical presence and physical space and the resulting dialectics of inner and outer form. The question of place and location is placed within cultural, institutional, and psychological contexts. The object or the viewer can reveal the shape of a place or, the place of the body can be indicated as a void. Charging sculptural objects and spaces with meaning is an invitation for a physical interaction and the questioning of why things are the way they are and what would happen if they change".



I also had the pleasure of attending several very intellect lectures. 

One of the first lectures was by a friend we meet in Taiwan Craig Hartenberger. His Lecture was called "Seeing With New Eyes" In the lecture he talked about how important it is to get out of your comfort zone and experience. It can open up a whole new world and will be life changing. Traveling can shape the way you see work and your perception of art. He called all his travels visual research.

Another one I attended was Janine Antoni's Lecture. She was the keynote speaker, Antoni shared her latest project and she talked about how she approaches making. She talked about her work sense 1989 and how it has morphed and changed. SHe also touched on her processes. 

Also I attended a lecture that showed and taught the audience how to properly shoot your work and make your images magazine worthy. Dustin Miyakawa showed the audience how to avoid hiring a photographer. He talked about backgrounds and horizon lines. He also got more technical and showed us how to resize and save our images to specific formats.