Coming back to my alternate studio after a 6-month absence, I looked at my work from the past year.
The first thought was, "I must make bigger work." It suddenly struck me that my previous pieces are rather small and I wonder, "Why did I not see this before?"
Lately, I have been making much larger work. The living area at the other studio is larger with pure white walls and lofty ceilings. Could this be having an impact on my work?
The paradox is that the studio I just left is small; my regular studio here is large.
I threw a lot of pieces there. I sat them out during the day, but carefully put them in sealed boxes at night in order to slow down the drying. A big bisque firing awaits when I return.
I'm also trying an experiment--I had about 100 lbs. of various clays that I put into a large plastic container. I poured water into it and sealed it up. We'll see if it kept the clay moist.
This guy is pretty large--about 14 inches tall. I put it in a 10 gallon bucket overnight to keep it from drying to quickly. I threw it with no base because I wanted to form it into an oval and slab-roll the base to fit. And this one is even taller.
Even these bakers are as large as the batts.
I had to fill in the places where the batt pins showed on the
bottoms, so the bakers are about 10 inches in diameter.
They'll shrink, of course, about 10% by the time they're bisqued, then glazed and fired again.
Big space, big pots, small space, small pots interesting. I made small pots when I was in my RV because big ones wouldn't fit, but all the while I wanted to make big ones. Now that I have a bigger space, I wonder what I'll do?
ReplyDeleteA goal of mine is to make a chronological spread sheet of my work with a photo of each piece and notes. I'm sure some interesting thoughts will come out of that list for me.
I remember Paul Dresang saying during a workshop that he had a good-sized studio, but always seemed to work in just one small spot In all the 'detritus'.
ReplyDeleteFor a long time, I worked on a left-over rectangle of dry wall that had been duct taped around the edges to keep the plaster away from the clay. I still work in a space of about 2 square.