Friday, Feb 9, 2018
The ceramic artist Julia Haft-Candell gave a lecture on Thursday night and then spent Friday with various students looking at and talking about their work. This was the first visiting artist I had look at my work and it was interesting to get a fresh eye and a different perspective.
Since I don’t have a studio, I set my pieces up in the glaze room. I chose a few of my older pieces as well as my memory rooms and chairs. I had the tall white vase, the bananas, the totemic piece and the white and green tea set study with the vines wrapping around a small dish. We spent most of the time discussing the more recent work but she was drawn to the totemic piece as well. I really like that small piece; it was a quick study in an exercise about form but the blue and white glaze was successful (in my mind) and it resulted in a piece that is both familiar and odd. It feels good to hold and it’s intriguing to look at. It’s not the best piece but it is a reminder that some of the more intuitive pieces can be good – and fun.
I set up the group of chairs that are made with Dundee Red clay and brush strokes of white slip fired to Cone 6. The result is a dark, rich brown with a faint hint of the white slip. One leg broke off one of the chairs but by chance that chair sits perfectly on the corner of another and shares that leg. It makes for an interesting connection between the chairs. I see the set of 5 chairs as a family; each distinct from one another but all relating to each other as well. Julia liked these pieces and I find that many people do, too.
There wasn’t much conversation about the pieces with decals though she did make the comment that decals are ‘not my hand’. It was a passing statement and I’m not sure how I feel about it in relation to my work. I suppose I agree, but they can also be appropriate to the work and I like them. So, I think I will continue to use them but be aware of how and when I use decals (or rice paper underglazes).
The majority of the conversation was focused on the two memory rooms. Immediately, Julia picked up on something that I had thought about but had a different take. She preferred the unglazed piece, the piece that is finished with the gouache, matte paint because to her it seemed ‘dustier’, like a memory. I thought this was really interesting. She also mentioned that the shine from the glaze was distracting; the light reflecting and the finished look took away from the idea of nostalgia or memory.
Because these are about memory, Julia suggested that I think about the imprecise nature of remembering; was the table here? Or here? by adding multiples of an object. Also, by leaving blanks; letting the viewer fill in more of the scene and questioning what is remembered. This came up in response to my mentioning that I did not want these to look like doll houses.
Julia was also drawn to the abstract nature of the food on the table and thought that was something that could be pushed. She could not read what all the objects were (she saw the plates as pancakes) but that did not bother her, in fact, it made it more interesting. I think viewers are often drawn to objects that are recognizable, but not (like the totemic piece).
We talked about making these pieces more personal but I’m not sure I understand how I can except by recreating specific rooms. I do think these pieces represent amalgamations of rooms but still specific to me. However, I would like to think how I can do a better job with creating spaces that seem more personal. Perhaps more specific objects interspersed with abstract objects?
We talked about the forced perspective (making it stronger, exaggerating it more?) and the possible views around the rooms. What if the viewer were to look through a window? What is happening on the reverse side? Julia like the unfinished, ‘behind-the-scenes’ look of the pieces where the construction is viewed. She suggested I push that further as well.
Some artists she mentioned for me to look at are Pattie Chalmers, Ron Nagel (I don’t remember why – his work seems very different) and Mike Kelly.
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