technical tuesday: more from the arrowmont experience – the ceramic surfaces forum 2013

Nine days goes by in a heartbeat. Especially when it comprises days filled with learning opportunities, studio work, and developing relationships with other artists in the community. Months ago I wondered to myself why I was even considered as a participant for this curated forum. My cinderalla complex in full force, I questioned what I would have to contribute. I’ve been humbly reminded of the contributions we can all make to our community through generous sharing of ideas, technological practices, theorectical methodologies and general outlook on art and craft practice and production.

I know that I’ve been filled to the point of overflowing with inspiration and creative energy. There is a great back hallway in the main arrowmont building which is a visual signifier of the state of my brain. Packed full of images, pinned up everywhere. Ideas forming and brewing. So much of which is really hard to put into words at this time.

One thing I would like to share is a technical change that I’m excited about and which I’m thinking will lead me down a slightly different path. As you may know my figurative work has been finished with china paints for years now. I began working with them back in grad school as a means to not only achieve the surface quality I was looking for, but also as a contextual link to the tradition of industrial ceramic figurine production. While at Arrowmont we were sponsored by AMACO and had access to their line of underglaze and glaze materials. I decided to play around with this extensive color palette to see if I couldn’t achieve the quality of bright colors similar to those achieved with the china paints. On the last morning some tests out of the kiln revealed a surface that was not only vibrant but also had a touch and feel that was desirable. Best of all I was able to cut out an entire firing method from my work. Before I was firing a cone 04, cone 6 and then multiple cone 022 firing cycles. The china paints would require a few coats and multiple firings, a slow firing which needed attention and time not always conducive to working under a looming deadline.

earlier china painted surface

new underglaze results

These new results which were remarkably similar to past surfaces could now be simplified to a cone 04 and cone 6 cycle. This not only removed firings, but also is the same as the cycle I use for my functional line of work. It’s all about being more efficient and cost effective. But I wondered, could I walk away from that link to the original collectible forms and their production methods that I am referencing? Truly I can’t see why not. This shift in efficiency will also impact the overall cost of production of the work, one which I have been keenly aware is a hurdle for many who want to collect work. All in all exciting.

Working with the underglazes rather than the china paints was significantly different. The underglazes dried immediately on the surface whereas the china paints - as a result of being mixed with an oil based medium - would remain "open" for a much longer period allowing mixing of colors and additions of layers and textures. I'm going to further test the underglazes to see if i can't find a way to turn the colorants into an oil based mixture to allow some of that play of color that i miss. We'll see.

Over the next little while I'll be sharing a few videos i took of other artists at Arrowmont and i'll be talking a bit more about the residency. I hope i'm not overwhelming you all with it. I'm sure my instagram followers were happy i was finished flooding their feed with ceramics and am now back to the usual posts of my kids and cat : )