Saturday, June 30, 2012

82598A - Frozen Puddles Cracking in the Baking Sun



Whenever these platters are exhibited, I get scores of questions relating to the technical nature of the glazes. Ironically, that is NOT what these are about. At first they were ALL about the technical. As I got farther into the research, they became emotional canvases for me to express the profound relationships I saw between materials and temperature. Yeah, that sounds like total bullshit. I know. My professor thought so too. I don't really give a shit anymore. What I learned was tremendous. Things that I assumed to be absolute truths are in fact very lazy observations. Conservative and optimistic assumptions. By discarding those assumptions I was treated to a completely new experience... in glaze. 


One thing I wish I had been able to experiment with (and maybe some day it will happen) is trying to get these glazes OFF the clay surface. Seems counter to the concept of how pottery works. Imagine these disks of color, suspended in front of a glass wall.... no opaque clay behind the surface.... just letting light pour through the cracks and thin translucent areas. It would be fantastic! I was never able to explore the idea of creating a releasing agent to free them from their clay frame. Definitely something I would love to see some day.