After meeting with my client and collector of early American pottery, I was able to draw upon his ideas and interest in my work to design a custom piece for his collection.
To start the building process, I begin with a thrown form. I then applied additional clay to form handles, a bottled neck and squared off sides. Once the piece was hard enough, I made a plaster mold of the original form. I then emptied and cleaned the mold of the original and poured a porcelain slip for the casting. When the new molding form is almost dry, I clean and sand the form for a perfect finish. The piece is the fired in a kiln once to harden and burn out impurities and then fired again to apply a clear glaze.
After this grueling process, the piece is ready to paint. I gather my resources, pick up a brush and begin laying the design around the form. I use China Paints for the surface and though multiple layers of paints and firings the piece is complete.
The focus of my work is figurative ceramics. I utilize the surface of my sculptural creations as a kind of porcelain canvas for autobiographical surrealistic painting. My introduction to and interest in the PRISM lab originated from a series of attempts to create an accurate mirror image of one of my sculptures.
After a crash course in CAD programs, I used the PRISM lab’s computer scanning and prototyping processes to create a work of abstract figurative art. Conceptually, my goal was to crate a porcelain sculpture of two conjoined figures embodying a symbiotic relationship.
This project was a collaboration between myself and Arizona State University’s PRISM lab, with special thanks to Professor Dan Collins.
The tumblers I create are handcraft from beginning to end. The clay is mixed, thrown on a potter’s wheel and fired in a kiln. I polish them and have discovered a method to transfer the paintings I create on my sculptures into decals that fire onto the tumblers. The results are beautifully translucent porcelain vessels that takes on an alabaster appearance with original imagery from my paintings.
