Secret Garden: Creative Life

Roses and Form

studiosecretgarden — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:07:00 +0000

So recently I have decided to dedicate the bulk of my time to a new series that I have entitled the Fusion Series. These pieces look at the delicate aspect of roses and the various organic forms that go with them and combining this elegance with different shapes for the bases. So far I have done two pieces and I am working on a third. The first base form was very geometric. Sharp angles and planes, accented by circular bubble forms that went along side the roses. This was more of a modern piece and was the first in the installation. The one that I completed today is much more feminine and elegant, There are two large open roses accented by leaves and then smaller roses with smaller leaves and vines that cover the whole piece, creating a feeling of direction and pull. The smaller roses range in size from bugs to slightly open with the grand roses at the top. The whole piece is 13 inches tall and is my favorite so far. What I am realising in producing these roses that it is the thinner the better. If you look at my first piece the rose petals look fairly thick where as these second roses are thinner and have a much stronger realistic appearance. I get the first piece back from the Glaze Kiln tomorrow and I will be adding color to the second one using colored slips. I find that with these projects and my lack of experience with glazing, it will be best to paint on the color in a more predictable manner. We will see how well this goes.

So in doing this I wonder.. What makes a good form? What makes a strong form? If you are focusing on elegance, is it best to do the inverse or emphasise what you have? What do you think?

P.S. I posted a picture of the piece in Media files. Let me know what you think?

http://studiosecretgarden.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/pb240010-e1258660083914.jpg

Wheel

studiosecretgarden — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 22:28:26 +0000

So, I have stepped up my wheel throwing one step farther. I have added a third clay body to my list. I started working with Porcelain yesterday. The cool thing is that everyone told me that it would be so very hard to work with. They said that it was an advanced clay body that was beyond my current point. I had an easier time with this clay body than I did with the grogless stoneware that I switched to a few days ago.

I was positively thrilled! At this point I have thrown almost as many porcelain pots as I have stoneware pots.

The other thing that I am working on when it comes to my throwing skills is working larger in size. My first thrown objects were these 1″x2″ little pots that really couldn’t be used for anything. At this point I am making average size bowls and lidless jars. Hopefully in a couple months I will be able to work with larger bowls and urns.. Maybe even learn how to do plates and saucers…

Immediate Objectives:

Thrown Lids
Pulled Handles
Greater Size

Material

studiosecretgarden — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 23:06:33 +0000

Today was an amazing day for me. I did something new that I had attempted before but had never achieved to this degree. I threw two pieces on the wheel that rivaled any that I had done before. But what I realized was that this did not have to do with my skill, my hands, or my artistic ability, but what I had to help me in creation. I realized that because of doing something so simple as changing the type of clay I was using, I was able to achieve the goal of creating beautiful pieces on the wheel. Thanks to the tools that I had at my disposal and the ability to chose a new more flexible clay body I created these pieces.

How often does this kind of realization take place? If it is merely a matter of having the right tools and the right means of producing something, its almost like finding a niche. This can be applied to any part of life. It is the fundamental root of making anything happen. Looking back in retrospect it seems so simple really. I struggled for days, trying to force clay to form in the way I wanted to, to shape in the way I was expecting. Really all it was, was that I had the process down, but it was in the implementation that I was off. Its so simple that its mind boggling.

With this kind of process, it would then seem that my studio can go anywhere – be anywhere. So long as I have the right tools with me I an move anywhere I desire, anywhere I am pulled to go. Ultimately I will have a place where my studio can reside, but I can take it anywhere.

What do you think about this idea?

Hello world!

studiosecretgarden — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 22:28:24 +0000

Hello Readers,

Welcome to the blog for the Secret Garden Studio. At this point in time this studio of mine is more of an idea than a location but eventually will become physical.

The point of this blog will be to include you in my creative endeavors to create bodies of work that speak to people. On this page I will record the creative processes of each piece as I make it and each new process I experience and (hopefully) master. I will share with you what I get from each new piece I create and hopefully gain insight as to what you – the viewer – is experiencing as a result of my creation. This process will start now.

This morning, I put the finishing touches on a piece that I have entitled “Fusion”. This piece started out with a project that I have completed before and that has challenged me greatly. The project was called a 5 and 5 organic and geometric form. The point of the project was to create and combine 5 organic an 5 geometric forms spontaneously. This would create a form that was completely unique and unlike anything seen before.
As my art has developed, I have discovered that geometric forms are not something I prefer so this project is naturally challenging to me. I started to build this form initially with slabs that formed the base of what is now this sculpture. I attempted to use triangular forms and open concepts that were nonrepresentational but I felt that the piece was becoming very typical and that it was not spontaneous. So I created one large rose (the largest at the base of the sculpture). If you don’t know me or don’t know me well I can tell you that the rose is an image that I have always identified with. I love roses and I have them all throughout different places in my life, so putting them on my art work seemed only natural. After having my professor look at my piece, I was allowed to continue this idea of the roses. I added simple half circles that were both concave and convex in the form. I decided on a closed form so that it seemed more natural, like it could be formed in nature. I ended up with the sculpture that can be seen today.
In creating this sculpture I was not aiming for anything in particular. I did not have a certain message to convey or a particular theme that I was working with. What I do get out of the piece at this point is a bold fusion of modern and antique forms. It takes something as open and natural as a rose and combines it with the modern clean lines of the base and the circles. For me this piece talks of who I am in a very intimate way. This piece describes my journey as an artist and as a person as I have settled into who I am today.

As the viewer of the piece, what does it say to you? What does it remind you of? Do you identify with it in any way?