New Work: Listen

 

If I tell you my story, will you listen?

Part of my story lies beneath my skin, beneath my clothes.

Listen if you will.

Who Was Upstairs?

 

"Who was upstairs?" is the title of this cup. 

Like many of us who use ceramic clay these days, I utilize surface of my functional ware as canvas for graphic expression. The main room of a Polish castle I visited in a vivid 1981 dream is a space whose mystery lingers with me still. Large game heads hung with fresh dangling sinews on the wall across from the entry. The space was vast, and our hostess was kind. I didn't sense that this unusual installation was in any way extraordinary in these regions, and I accepted their presence without fear.

Stairs were on this wall behind the heads (See cup.) We didn't go upstairs in my dream; we went left into a room with a coffered ceiling where small prized possessions of the dead levitated just below each coffer.

I believe my Polish biology, my DNA, released these spaces to my visual mind.

Someday I would like to visit Wawel Castle in Krakow. I want to know who's upstairs.

Cups and Bird Bowls

Bird Bowl

I made flocks of bird bowls for sale at the Jepson Center and spent a lovely day in the lobby of this amazing building - designed by Moshe Safdie -hawking my wares.....(pun intended, except that my birds are vegetarian).


And here's one of the finished cups.....with a little underglaze decoration.

Cup

Yunomi

 Yunomi. You know me. A recent obsession. Seeing the shelves near the Penland wood kiln last week, it appears I'm not the only one obsessed. Photos of finished cups to follow.....

Flight

Flight. Monotype. 2012.

Dreams of flying returned after a wonderful Yoga class last Saturday. Sometimes the prints I make when demonstrating for a class become images I like better than the ones I plan and labor over. Serendipity is lovely. Dreamlike. Up-lifting.

Now Showing

I confess: The most complicated piece in this exhibit made it onto the wall only hours before the Opening. And only because of the generous assistance of the kind and very capable folks at SPACE.  48 small angel dresses each on its own special nail....beaded, hung....

Having the work of the past few months (and years) out of the studio and on display - is a great relief and a real inspiration. Long before this show made it up, I realized that some of the big ideas I'd had when we scheduled it would have to wait until "next time". And now, at least in my studio, it is next time. Now is the moment. I am delighted!

This weekend I cleaned out flat files, sorted a beautiful collection of rice and cotton papers, and began to play with transparent water-based printing inks. I also uncovered a large porcelain sculpture and carved and incised. With no show scheduled or planned anytime soon, I relish the short breaks in my teaching schedule as quiet and reflective free time. I do have a few small commissions and orders to fill, several things planned for consignment, but I also have new materials and ideas to pursue that don't have destinations.

Teaching has begun to feed my soul in unexpected ways. The questions students have inspire my own curiosity to push further into explorations of media, materials, ideas. The classroom is a community of artists, and I enjoy being one of them. I want to give them all the information I can find and then some. And in giving, I receive. I am a student at heart, and I grow.

Our exhibit is a 2-person show, curated by SPACE's Debra Zumstein, and my work hangs alongside the lovely photographs of Sam Norgard's dress installations that she makes of natural materials. They are exquisite. I am honored to be paired with her. It is uncanny and beautiful the way each pairing fits together in harmonious color and texture and shape, like perfect dance partners. What a wonderful way to meet another artist!

We are giving a Gallery Talk next month. I look forward to getting to know Sam. I look forward to teaching Printmaking and Ceramics and Drawing. I look forward to quiet moments in my studio. Now.

http://savannahnow.com/accent/2012-09-23/art-soul-scad-armstrong-professors-team-exhibit-inspired-dresses#.UF8cQbKPWSo

Dress for a Rolling Stone

Anything Can Be a Mold for Handbuilding in Clay. All I had to do with these shoe forms was to tear wings from their sides....and turn them into angel dresses. Thanks, Toms'.

 Using newspaper for forming can become especially amusing. Look who's wearing one of my dresses. I hope it still fits once it's fired....Stay tuned.