Assignment #2, Inspiration

Assignment #2: INSPIRATION

I am inspired by 12^th century Japanese potters.  Although I know almost nothing of individual 12^th century Japanese potters, or even the general history of the culture and art of that historical era, in my mind I imagine that they had a certain freedom of purpose at that time which balanced the spiritual and practical aspects of fired clay.  My fictional attachment to that era is clearly mythical and personal, with little basis in fact.  Balanced against that myth is the concrete reality of clay and it’s plastic nature.  The act of creating clay objects is an exercise in abstracting the ideals of an established ethos (12^th century Japanese ceramics) in the language of utilitarian 21^st century objects.   For this reason, most of my pieces are fictional, abstract, and contradictory.

Art for me is a balance between accepting and challenging.  We accept the traditional markers of our culture but challenge those assumptions in our own way in the present.   Artists work from their own established cultural backdrop but challenge the assumptions defining their medium, they accept the confines of the chosen materials but resist the dictates of established approaches to those materials, they both accept what is absorbed culturally and challenge established assumptions about the materials, the use, the purpose, and the products of art.

 

As an artist I utilize history, and what I know of the past much as I would use a blank canvas or a slab of clay, to define for myself a point of departure.  Because history is a collection of personal assumptions, gleaned from a few facts that have been passed down to us, it is generally mythical on a personal level, imparting a background from which to interact with the future.  As artists we work in the future but our finished pieces are a tribute to the past, a combination of the accepted beliefs and discovery, played out in the challenges of understanding the present.  Balancing those extremes, we must first identify with a mental construct from which we ourselves were derived (a construct that is inherently fictional), and keep our vision solidly in new beginnings, new forms, new formats.   Art isn’t so much a challenge as a process of creating challenges, and thus the back and forth gauntlet of passage between past and future.  That avenue of exploration allows the artist to dwell in the present when they succeed in joining those concepts of time on a personal level.  In the end, after all that we accept and challenge, art is a process for experiencing the present through an arbitrary medium.  What is more fitting than materials derived from the earth (clay) and processed  much as the Earth has been processed through fire and time. 

 Stay tuned for upcoming posts including, (1) Art Is, (2) making ceramic signs, and (3) assignment #3

Assignment #1

ASSIGNMENT #1

  

Clay 299, Fall Quarter, 2011:

Hi, my name is Mike Hiler and I am a student in the YVCC ceramics department.  I enjoy working with functional clay forms such as cups, bowls, drum bodies, and drop spindle whorls, all based from clay slabs.  I prefer working with different clay bodies, experimenting with the shop glazes, and exploring new forms that are suggested by the functional pieces I create.  I feel that my clay forms evolve from multiple constructions and that I don’t understand a form until I have made many pieces from within a format.  Once I find a form that is challenging and compelling I work to explore the range.

This quarter I want to work with Kleiber porcelain clay and experiment with a cone 06 “JG”.  I also have some new cone 06 glazes I want to try on the JG clay.

During this quarter I want to concentrate on the finish of my pieces, particularly T-pots, cups and jars/drum bodies.  I want to produce forms or table ware that are functional , unique and marketable. I need to work on a more concise business model, particularly the on-line aspect of selling in a local market.

For me, successful ceramic forms are a combination of tradition and exploration.  I want pieces that are easy to use, easy to like, and easy to sell.  I would like to include sculptural aspects into my table ware and traditional markers into my spindle whorls and cups.  I want each cup or whorl to be perfect in all utilitarian aspects, simple, direct, and compelling.  Each piece needs to reach out to clients; the form and glaze need to be balanced and complementary, as well as compelling and meaningful.

BATCH 1, Kleiber porcelain/ Cone 10, 25 pounds

- T-pot: 1

- Water Jar or drum body/ Dakota red: 1

- Cups: 8

- Bowls

         - Large/ presentation: 1

         - Medium/ serving: 1

         - Flat/ serving: 1

         - Square bowls: 4

         - Spindle whorls if time permits: 10

Once I have 25 pounds of Kleiber in the bisque kiln I plan to switch over and work with the 25 pound bag of JG that I received from Clay Art. I want to concentrate on new forms and sculpture with the 06 clay but make enough kitchen ware to assess its functionality and to test 06 glazes and cobalt stains.

BATCH 2: JG/ Cone 06, approx. 25 pounds

-       Spindle whorls: 20

-       Sculpture pieces: 4

-       Square bowls: 4

-       Cups: 4

-       Small T-pot

-       Water Jar or drum body, Dakota Red: 1

If I finish the JG before the quarter is over, I will finish up with Kleiber porcelain, listed below

BATCH 3, Kleiber porcelain/ Cone 10, 25 pounds

- T-pot: 1

- Water Jar or drum body/ Dakota red: 1

- Cups: 8

- Bowls

         - Large/ presentation: 1

         - Medium/ serving: 1

         - Flat/ serving: 1

         - Square bowls: 4

         - Spindle whorls if time and clay permits

NOTES:

1.   Continue with iron oxide washes on bisque.

2.   Work on portraits, masks, and human figures.

3.   Continue to work on t-pot forms including “organic” pots, the traditional “pot” shapes, handles, spouts, lids, and forms.

4.   Experiment with cobalt on bare porcelain and JG clays, and, under clear glazes.  Work toward an integrated surface and single (or simple) color design elements and patterns.

5.   Pinch bottom, stained surface over burlap texture.

6.   Smoothing surface treatments (sand paper on bisque, burnishing, added textures)

7.   Take notes on things to work on Spring/2012.

Clay and Yarn

Subject: re: Alpaca yarn, update

You may ask what yarn has to do with clay?  I made the whorls (weights) for drop spindles from clay fired them, glued them on dowels (creating a "drop spindle") and spun the following yarn on them.

This summer I had some time and some alpaca 'fluff" so spun this yarn.  

 Hi guys, here (photos below) is the (two ply) alpaca yarn I've just processed, so you can see the color, all hand carded and spun on a drop spindle,,,,, heading for the knitter next week??

This is "Guillarmo yarn" (the lighter color) and "Miss Cool" (the dark color).  Names are actual Alpacas, I never met them??? The darker yarn was spun to add a stripe, whatever the artist/knitter figures out? This is before the yarn was washed and rolled into balls???  I'm saving that big jar for the ceramics show at Larson Gallery next spring. The drop spindle in the upper left is an ongoing Linnen thread I'm spinning for a book binding project.

Here is the yarn drying.  The little wad in the back is a hybrid ply with colored sock yarn???  I use drop spindles as weights for drying.  Opps, there's that big jar again in the window??

This is the washed alpaca yarn set, ready for knitting (463 yards/12 oz).  My plan is to get three hats (beanies) from these 6 balls.  Drop spindles and scales are behind along with the large jar. The colored ball (to add color) is single ply wool. 

Mountain Goat set:  Actually, it's blended with various kinds of compatible fiber such as white alpaca, Icelandic, and Churro (Mt goat is very soft and needs blending when knitted into hats). These four balls (276 yards/ 8 oz)  should result in two hats (one spoken for)???  Is that dark spot the shadow of a large jar???  Hope you enjoyed the show, now to figure out what "Power point" means???/mike hillier

Now that you see how to make yarn from clay I'll show you how to make a sign from clay,,, keep posted, or whatever it is you do with a blog??