RETRO.

My spot piece from Smells Like Silicosis took a large turn towards the last half of the quarter. I began slip-casting my spot-stone forms like crazy and made a huge wall installation that became more about the forms and their arrangement on the wall and less about the incorporation of the bronze foundry pieces, they were more or less 'accents' at this point. I blended together a glossy clear yellow and brown to create a gradient effect and the glazes ended up making a gorgeous brown-greeny-yellow gradient. After the success of Retro, I have began to focus on a retro style, and the perfection of forms, pattern, and color relationships... more to come soon!

Retro

10'x 2"x 20"

Porcelain and Bronze

Studio Research Assistant

This past quarter I was the studio research assistant to ceramics professor Guy Michael Davis. Mike and ceramics professor Katie Parker are currently preparing for an upcoming exhibition this summer at The Taft Museum of Art in downtown Cincinnati. At first I helped Mike around the studio with many small slip-casting projects, and then moved on to applying red iron oxide decals to slip-cast rhytons, and finished up the quarter making molds of exotic fruits to be used in still life sculptures. I furthered my knowledge of kiln firings, glazing and mold making techniques, and perfecting the cleanliness of ceramics pieces. The images are from projects that I worked on during the quarter!

Smells Like Silicosis

[sil-i-koh-sis] Also known as Potter's Rot, is a form of occupational lung disease caused by inhalation of crystallinesilica dust, and marked by inflammation and scarring in forms of nodular lesions in the upper lobes of the lungs.

During Winter Quarter 2011, our Advanced Ceramics studio organized a show, Smells Like Silicosis, in the 840 Gallery at DAAP. The piece I had made for the show was a expansion on an all bronze foundry spot piece from Autumn Quarter. I added in slip-cast forms that were a mixture of yellow died slip and glossy glazed chocolate brown. The final piece ended up being around 48"x 2"x 30". 

There's also some pics of in-process mold work for the final piece!