Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Tuesday November 28th Wrap Up

Finals kilns loaded! CHECK
Magdolene wished a happy birthday! CHECK

Critique schedule made for Thursday and next week. (Sketchbooks will be collected Thursday) 
Potluck suggested. CHECK

All systems ready! See you all Thursday for some great conversation and food.


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Monday, November 20, 2017

Final days...

Only 2 class periods left before Final Critiques!

Nov 21st:  Workday Final Project. Glaze cone 6 Exquisite Corpse firing. LAST BISQUE Kiln for work THAT WILL NEED TO BE GLAZED.
Nov 23rd: THANKSGIVING
Nov 24th: NCECA Glaze Firing.

Nov 28th: Set calendar for critiques. FINAL cone 6 class glaze. LAST Class WORKDAY and FINAL Bisque for work that will not need glazing (for cold finish).
Nov 30th: Exquisite Corpse Final Critique. Bring large drawings you worked from. Sketchbooks collected.

Dec 5th: Final Critique and Potluck/
Dec 7th: Final Critique. Potluck. Return Sketchbooks.
FRIDAY Dec 8th at NOON: Mandatory Clean-Up. 
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Friday, November 17, 2017

Andrea Keys Connell

Andrea Keys Connell

 (b.1980, USA)
BFA. Maryland Institute College of Art in 2002
MFA. Ohio University in 2009.

Keeping figurative clay central in her practice, Andreas figures have been taken to the national and international stage. Practicing artist and educator, she has hosted many workshops centered around figurative rendering and construction. Andrea was an assistant professor at VCU 2011-2017 as well as the fountainhead fellow of the year 2010-2011. 


These subject vary from 3/4 to larger than life scale and are featured in fantastical scenes that utilize the space around them. Slab built and hollow, the figures are constantly pressed from the inside outward. This technique provides structural stability and influences the figure shape and gesture. This way of working also heavily influences the conceptual theme of Andrea's body of work. How experience emotionally and physically transform the individual.


The following works of art are taken from Andrea's artist website, and to me best illustrated her technical abilities, narrative conceptuality, and creating a "scene" with presentation and utilization of prop and landscape.



Inherent Longing, 2007 (stoneware, paint.  3.5 x 10 x 13)


(detail) Inherent Longing, 2007 (stoneware, paint.  3.5 x 10 x 13)

Andrea talking about her work Inherent Longing 2007

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Un-home-like, 2010 (stoneware, paint, wooden cabinet) 5.5 x x12 x x10



(detail) Un-home-like, 2010 (stoneware, paint, wooden cabinet) 5.5 x x12 x x10
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Gently Down the Stream..., 2012 (exhibit view)


Gently Down the Stream...(half-figure) 2012 (stoneware, paint, stain) 31 x 41 x 42"


Gently Down the Stream...(standing-figure) 2012 (stoneware, paint, cardboard) 86 x 28.5 x 28.5"

Gently down the stream,  was inspired by the media newspaper depiction of natural disaster, war, and protest through images. These subjetcs are portrayed in a similiar exressivness, body language, and composition. Anguished faces and strained bodies in these scenes attempting to bear witness to these memories.

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And then the wind blew, 2015 (stoneware, glaze, wood) 5.5 x 2.5 x 6

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(detail) And then the wind blew, 2015 (stoneware, glaze, wood) 5.5 x 2.5 x 6

Andrea eases her figures out of story and imagination, and closer to the realities found in the present experience. Trapped and detached, almost forlorn expressions within the suspended gesture of each subjects' inherent trauma.

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Andrea's Website: http://andreakeys.com/home.html

Articles: 
https://artaxis.org/andrea-keys-connell/
http://www.wm.edu/as/andrewsgallery/pastexhibitions/Andrea%20Keys%20Connell.php
https://www.ohio.edu/finearts/whats-happening/news-story.cfm?newsItem=35795A10-5056-A874-1D877803B8173EF3


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Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Wrap up Tuesday Nov 14th

We loaded some of your exquisite corpse projects into the kiln yesterday. Magdolene and I then spent a great amount of time trying to figure out the firing schedule for the rest of the month. Keep on top of your work drying and making sure you meet deadlines for the final firing calendar.

Margaret will be gone this Thursday. Class will start with loading the remainder of EC sculpture. The rest of the class will be a work day for all including Magdolene so if you need her you can find her in the grad area. I'll see you next Tuesday. As always keep up the good work and email if you need anything.

Inspiration for your day:

A Statue Stirs to Life in Washington Square Park

A man’s unusually small size, which invited the
jeers of bullies in his youth, became a key to his
role as a “living statue” in Greenwich Village. Full article here. Make sure to watch the video!
Johan Figueroa-González has appeared as a living statue in Washington Square Park since the spring. Benjamin Norman for The New York Times

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Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Update Calendar

Nov 16th: Exquisite Corpse load last of Bisque. Workday. Unload bisque.

Nov 21st:  Workday Final Project. Glaze cone 6 Exquisite Corpse firing. LAST BISQUE THAT WILL NEED TO BE GLAZED.
Nov 23rd: THANKSGIVING
Nov 24th: NCECA Glaze Firing.

Nov 28th: Set calendar for critiques. Final cone 6 class glaze. LAST Class WORKDAY and FINAL Bisque without without glazing (for cold finish).
Nov 30th: Exquisite Corpse Final Critique. Sketchbooks collected.

FRIDAY Dec 1st Mandatory Clean-Up. Time to be announced.

Dec 5th: Final Critique. 
Dec 7th: Final Critique 

* calendar subject to change. Keep checking in.

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Friday, November 10, 2017

Whimsical and Artful: The Work of Kensuke Yamada


"Bathing Beauties" 
2014, Stoneware and Underglaze.
"Torso"
2017, Stoneware and Mixed Media.  
Kensuke Yamada is a contemporary ceramic sculpture artist and professor who teaches at Centre College and resides in Danville, Kentucky. After arriving to the United States  to earn his B.F.A. from Evergreen State College in Washington, he went on complete his M.F.A. at the University of Montana. Known for his whimsical figure work that pairs Japanese influence with brightly colored and slipped surfaces, Yamada's work constructs sculptural conversation between the viewer and the figurines he completes, allowing us to examine the space between. The space between nervousness and excitement, learning a new language, immersing yourself in a new culture, diving into new things - finding your way through a foreign place; just as Kensuke experienced after arriving in the United States. This struggle of learning a new language, led him to clay, and ceramics allowed him to find a common dialogue between other people through his artwork. 
"Head"
 2017, Stoneware and Luster.

"Head" 
2016, Stoneware, Silver Luster, and Decals.

"Head"
 2017, Stoneware, Luster, and Decals.
Yamada's process starts with large scale sketches on generic kraft paper. He doesn't display them in galleries, and doesn't  show to others. They merely serve as a sketchbook of sorts to explore, shapes, color, patterns, and form. After completing these drawings, the real work begins, as he translates the drawings into three-dimensional ceramic forms.  The forms themselves are all built hollow; coiling and pinching the shapes as he quickly works upwards. 

"Girl and Travel Bag"
 2015, Stoneware, Underglaze, Slip, and Oxides. 

"Catch the Rabbit"
 2012, Stoneware and Underglaze
"Girl and Rabbit" 
2015, Stoneware and Underglaze.
Kensuke's surfaces are complex; a mishmash of slips, oxides, glazes, and stains, all competing furiously for real estate on a piece, but somehow working harmoniously within the compositions he creates. He enjoys altering surface materials such as watering down and layering underglazes, thus allowing him to customize them and make them truly his own. In the video below, he even takes to applying the non-toxic underglazes with his fingers in lieu of a brush to complete a small polka dot pattern across one of his character's faces. Using a spray bottle, he routinely sprays any applications of underglaze, further deconstructing the surface and not afraid to allow the colors to bleed into the others. These techniques allow him to achieve his signature drippy and dirty style of surface. The distressing on his pieces makes them look like found objects, dug from the earth, the pops of bright colors contrasting sooty limbs. You can really see his aesthetic shine in his layering of glazes and sense the amount of fun he is having exploring these surface designs.  

"Swim"
2013, Stoneware and Underglaze.

"Marching to Oasis"
 2012, Stoneware and Underglaze.

“Hand Full" 
2011, Stoneware, Glaze, Slip, Oxide, Stain.

 “I Hear Things, 2011”
Stoneware, Glaze, Slip, Oxide,Stain, Wood, Latex Paint, Brick, Steel Screw Eye.
Though stripped down in form, the sculptures he creates only show what is necessary, and leaves out all the rest; my favorite part of his work is the surface. Though the form cannot be supported without the surface and vice versa, his point of view is so strong. I am drawn to the surface firstly, but even more enamored with the gesture of the faces in his figures; what they don't say. You keep looking and noticing more as you continue to pay attention. I admire his experience at editing and refining his work, as sometimes with more and more detail, and it can be easy to do too much. Though fairly young in his career, I am excited to keep following Kensuke's work, as I think he has found his right, artful place within the art world. Imagination and wonder are allowed embody that place between our emotions; his sculptures becoming the conduit. 

Video:


(Mini Documentary outlining the making and setting up of Yamada’s Exhibition, “Diving Through Clouds,” at the Cheekwood Estate and Art Museum in Nashville, Tennessee where he spent a month as Artist-in-Residence in 2016.)

Sources:
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