Moving Right Along

Here is yet another piece from my "Shigaraki" period. Looking back, I see that all of the masks I made there represent some form of change or movement and this one is a perfect example. Even now, in my raku frenzy, I'm still working with stoneware and stretching its limits as far as I can. The big challenge now is to fire it to near vitrification (for strength) and then use low fire treatments and a final raku firing. Some ceramists have told me that this couldn't be done - but, where there's a will.......

A Wing and a Prayer

This mask came to be as a result of my uncertainties about changes in my processes and materials. While at the Institute of Ceramic Studies in Shigaraki, Japan in 2003, I was truly at the mercy of the Fire Gods! Besides using a much higher firing clay, I also had to adjust my glazes to fit. As a result, I spent a lot of time holding my breath and crossing my fingers. It was during this period that "A Wing and a Prayer" was born.

I learned a lot during my residency (about clay AND about myself) and discovered that I thrive on uncertainties! Perhaps all that breath holding affected me.....

All Fall Down....

This week's subject, or should I say verb, is falling. Falling, drifting, descending or however you choose to think of the downward journey. Here, I've crafted a piece that depicts the face as ripe fruit ( a little influence from Archimboldo!). I think of fruit as an almost perfect metaphor for the face: from blossom to over ripe and everything between. I think my own face is becoming quite ripe, but there's still a way to go before landfall......

Where Do We Go From Here?

This is the follow up piece to "Which Came First?" (shown a few days ago) and it too poses a question. Once we're here, then what??? So many choices, so many directions are possible - but what happens when you arrive at a crossroad? I'm asking these questions now because it's where I find myself and I'm puzzling through a load of options. I love making and sharing the masks, but it feels as if I'm working inside a vacuum: I've been sucked up and everything is whirling around inside. It must be time to empty the bag, but I'm not quite sure how to do that.

Yes, it's a difficult time, but I'm certain that it will pass - and soon, I hope......

Half Wit, Half What....

Continuing with the "Fool" this week - guess I'm in a foolish mood! Last week, I re-viewed the Kurosawa film "Ran". There's a wonderful fool in that picture: he's always at the King's side and often makes cutting, witty remarks that warrant him needing to be quick to dodge the whacks. A loveable and yet painfully honest fellow. That's how I like to think of my own inner fool - but without the whacks.....

Beginnings

Here's another piece about growth and beginnings. I think of the mind as fertile ground for all the seeds that have been planted. In this mask, the ideas have taken a physical form - a fitting metaphor for the mask itself. What remains to be seen is the fully realized idea.....and what it becomes is not as important as the process.

Back to the studio to contemplate some new beginnings!

A Glazed Look

This is one of my most unusual pieces. What makes it so is that it was fired in the big noborigama (four chambered, climbing, wood-fired kiln) at the Ceramics Institute in Shigaraki, Japan. This kiln is only fired twice a year by a ceramics group from Kyoto. It was an honor to work with the group through the entire process of making, bisque, three day firing and unloading. A ceramics friend from Denmark and I had a midnite to 6am shift stoking the fire (along with the Japanese fire master). It was an experience I will never forget - and I don't think they will either!

When the mask emerged from the kiln, I felt it was finished. That could be the most unusual aspect of the piece since I normally do three or four more firings to build up layers of color and glaze. This is one mask I will never voluntarily part with!

Secret Garden

This is a piece that I made while in Japan at the Institute of Ceramic Studies in 2002. Before I went there I had only worked with earthenware clay and, to my surprise, it didn't exist in Japan (or at least in Shigaraki!). Thus began my transition into the new territory of stoneware and porcelain...and as a result, glaze making.

I consider this mask to be among the "ground breakers" of the secret garden that was revealed to me. Fortunately, those experiments have led to a garden that is continually blooming!