Site09

Site09 installation

Blossom time

At the eleventh hour, I finally pull one out of the kiln that says "YES"!. It suffered 3 firings to achieve this result and I love it.

Winter Vases. 30cm
These vases have undergone multiple firings as part of a continual experiment in glaze techniques.

Symbolic landscapes: terra firma 65cm
The last of a group of 4 tall pots - at last I have found which kiln and at which temperature I can fire these earthenware pots to achieve exactly the right colour of the clay body, something that has eluded me other than accidentally all semester. It seems that it only takes a few degrees to push the clay from the desired red to a horrible khaki.

Four seasons: winter squall. 64cm

and more

Four seasons: summer. 65cm

close-ups

Four seasons: silver birch in spring. 63cm

This is an intial line-up of the "green on greens" or "altered greens" - part of damage control when faced with the "green horrors". However, it is coming together with lots and lots of refiring and I plan to add another 4. They look best with 20cm separation from each other but I wasn't able to take a good photo of this at the time.

A random grouping straight out of the kiln

Four seasons: winter - silver birch with lowering sky 64cm

Symbolic landscapes: falling leaves 62cm

green horrors

Just as I was about to begin glazing the suite of bisqued pots, my sculpture tutor came and told me I was making a big mistake following my carefully laid out CERAMIC glazing plan and I should do them all one colour. This had been an original idea of mine but I dismissed it subsequently because I felt it would look uninteresting.

I glazed 7 of them and how I hate them! Although there are subtle differences between them, there isn't sufficient interest to capture the viewer in my opinion. Also because the pots have shrunk about 15% in the firing, they don't have quite the sculptural impact I was aiming for. So, watch this space for last minute (3 weeks until assessment and SITE) alterations!

A sneak preview

It's been a long and arduous task but ten of the mamas have been bisqued and four more are almost complete.

These will become part of my final installation for SITE - so many ponderables to sort out as to glazing yet but lots and lots of ideas.

More experiments

The following three images are of my second horizontally glazed vessel, but reglazed partly horizontally and vertically and then refired vertically. The original version is the fourth image. Have I killed it?? Or are the ensuing results, which were applied in the manner of Jackson Pollock (pour/flick/thick wads of colour, randomly)an improvement? It offers something else and I added some blue and red to the mix, another experiment as if I needed to do any more at this late stage in the year, but I rather like it. The first horizontally fired vessel has also been refired in the same manner but needs another application of green glaze to bring it together. More on that later!

Last laminated vessels

This vase and the trio below are the last in this range of vessels using laminated clays. I feel the idea has been explored as far as it can so it is with some relief that I now say goodbye to them! They were fired the day before my experiment with the 'pot on its back' and now I feel this new discovery has more potential to take further.

Latest landscape pot

Finally, my landscape pots are getting somewhere. I lay the pot on its back and poured four glazes over the top, the first a mauve colour followed by three of my green tests allowing the glazes to flow around the body. It was fired at 1210 held above the kiln shelf by a series of ceramic wads. The glaze effects are surprising but not as much as the change in the physical nature of the pot. It almost slumped in this position and shrank unbelievably - as you can see in the comparison photo.


The glazed pot was originally the same size as the one on the right!

New and refired pots

This pot was made in May this year, fired twice with disappointing results. Last week I decided to reglaze it again using my ASMI turquoise glaze and the result below is nothing like I imagined but it is quite lovely and reminds me of the colours in Monet's water lilly series.

I picked some rhodo blossoms from the Ceramics courtyard and they brighten up the studio no end.

Another jug - but fired at 1215 degrees so pushing the Cone 6 glaze (ochre) to the max.

Morning skies over Mt Cargill

The photos in this video were taken on Sunday mornings at 30 minutes after sunrise between April and August 2009. This is approximately the period when daylight saving ended and begins again. This will be part of my final year BVA presentation. The 'Scherzo' excerpt movement from Beethoven's No.9 was in my default music library and fitted my images. Not the music I had in mind which was more akin to 'Winter' Vivaldi's Four Seasons etc but I then recalled this same scherzo from A Clockwork Orange and thought, if it was good enough for Stanley Kubrick, it is good enough for me!!! And besides, musically I think it fits.

more pots

This is another experiment in the 'green' range. My intention was to install 6 or 8 pots in various greens as part of my final exhibition for SITE. However, now that I am building the 7th & 8th pots in this way, and four of these vessels are 70cm high, I feel I am no longer enjoying making them. Recently I thought I would only make 4 tall pots and glaze them in the colours of the four seasons instead of the 'green' installation because I thought the glaze effects would be more challenging. Scott, my tutor from Sculpture, said I should do both!


I like these 'white' pots very much. They are made from Abbots white clay with the addition of earthenware clay in parts. This causes a frozen movement in the shape of the pot as the clays shrink at different rates when being fired.

Mistakes!

These pots were also overfired and as a consequence, the glazes have become glossy and flattened while the stains-in-slip bands have become more intense. In addition the red earthenware clay has become more khaki. They are not what I expected and while they offer something else, and are also on public display at Quadrant, I suspect I may end up re-firing them.

Latest pots

I refired these as the first firing went beyond Cone 6 and flattened the colours. I added some orange stain in slip as an accent and applied a matt white glaze over the top of the previously white stripes and I am happy with the result.

This pair of jugs have fired beautifully. The olive colour is most unusual and I will use this glaze on one of my large vessels which are part of the 'green' range.

New landscape vessels

I intended to make a replica of "small turquoise jug" and used exactly the same glaze but this one has come out more green than turquoise - the vagaries of different firings.

This pot continues my experimental smaller landscape vessels range.

This pair of vessels are quite interesting - sombre, wintery and yet with glints of gold and the suggestion of a blue skyline - very Central Otago I think.

Smaller landscape vessels with laminated clays

These 3 pots have also been selected for the exhibition. Symbolic landscapes
posted earlier was inspired by the turquoise jug. I think the laminated sky-scapes have potential and will explore this further with new vessels in semester 2.

Extra pots selected for exhibition

Winter tea bowls These are early test pieces - Cone 10 reduction

First landscape marquettes

Snow in Dunedin 16th June 2009