Here is the finished plaster mold for slip casting. Because I want to make a lot of these there is another step before I get started…
Slip molds
As a non ceramicist, I rarely have a reason to make slip molds. However, sometimes I find myself with an idea that calls for one… and this piece is one that I’m excited enough about to proceed with a straightforward yet occasionally frustrating process.
I am making a small cup, that is a bird head wearing a party hat. It is such a small cup. And there is no good way to put it down until it is empty.
I think my idea here is that maybe it will slow you down, in the best way possible. Force you to focus on the act of drinking this tiny drink. A pause in your day where maybe you need both hands and all your attention.
Because this form is simple, it will be a 2 piece slip mold. Slip molds are made of plaster, because the plaster absorbs the liquid clay that is poured in. The clay becomes thicker as the moisture is soaked into the plaster and the excess is poured out, leaving a hollow form. Don’t worry. It will all make sense eventually. Stay tuned for more on this piece soon.
Weekly Update
The last two weeks have been crazy, and I feel like the crazy affects me more than it ever has. I used to almost thrive on chaos and now I most assuredly do not. This weekly update is the place where I sort my upcoming projects and work and my brain appreciates that, so here we go:
Upcoming Exhibitions
Small Wonders 11 will be coming to Arch Enemy Arts on Friday, November 4th. This exhibition features small works priced at $250 or under so if you are looking for holiday gifts, this is the place to do it! To get access to this work before the opening, you can email info@archenemyarts.com with SMALL WONDERS 11 in the subject line and they'll add your email to the collectors list, which goes out on Thursday, Nov 3rd at 2pm EST.
Exploring the Vessel will open at Antler Gallery on Friday, November 25th. This show features both functional and non functional vessels. More info on this soon.
Talks for our show in Nov 2023 have slowed with all that we have going on but now as everything calms down here a bit I expect it will pick up again soon. November of 2023 feels far away but will be here before we know it!
Upcoming Workshops
Registration for my 2023 workshop at Pocosin Arts will open on January 18th so stay tuned!
Work in Progress
I am still casting bird skulls and deciding next moves to make on a few different projects. I’m at the stage where I have too many ideas all at once and its a bit paralyzing. Too many ideas is always a good problem and usually I just start somewhere and see what happens.
Upcoming Miscellany
Sale of available work // November 1st, 2022
Sip & Sketch at the Wagner Free Institute of Science // December 8th, 2022
Workshops in Kalamazoo at KIA // March 2nd-5th, 2023
Workshop at Pocosin Arts // June 12-16, 2023
back at it
Whew! What a crazy two weeks! So much happened that my brain still feels like it’s playing catch up but here I am, so that’s a start.
The workshop at Union Hall Arts was great, so I’ll start there. A dedicated group of artists braved hurricane winds to make it to Atlantic City for two days of me talking about dead birds and feather textures. Everyone did a wonderful job and I had such a great time.
I have a few workshops coming up in 2023, which I will share info on tomorrow. Workshops are a fun way to have an immersive learning experience where you get a lot of information over a short period of time. And my suggestion for afterwards? Go home and sculpt! Try out all the new tips and tricks you learned at your own speed and see what happens. Try to notice if you are looking T your work differently now and if so, what are you noticing?
Ok, that’s it for now. More tomorrow!
Workshop goodie boxes
Tomorrow is the start of my 2 day Animal Sculpture workshop at Union Hall Arts! I spent the day finalizing: packing the clay, tools, reference materials and 1,000,000 books into the car; printing and assembling the Animal Sculpture with Darla Jackson zine; and making what can only be described as “Goodie Boxes” (like a goodie bag but it’s in a bin instead.) I guess it’s a “Take a class with Darla, get a prize!” sort of thing, because I’m so excited about this one.
Stay tuned for photos from the workshop!
Chaos reigns
I am perpetually fixing things that aren’t quite ready to be fixed. Like fixing this wall before the plumbing on the other side was completely figured out.
But I am happy to cut back into this perfect wall if it means that we will have a bathroom on the upper floors of the house. No more lugging buckets of water up from the first floor!
We are also having the roof done today, which will solve the other big problem in my studio: the perpetual leak. Despite the chaos, I’m very excited for it all.
Incoming Casts
In addition to casting my own work, I LOVE collecting plaster casts when I can. Here are two that we will be picking up from The Fountainhead Gipsoteca in a few weeks:
Justin is having a moving sale in his Instagram stories at @fountainheadgipsoteca and there are tons of affordable casts available.
Around the house: The Green Room
Weekly Update
This week has been a little crazy despite it being only Wednesday. I feel like I’m doing a whole lot and very little at the same time. Some major things are happening around the house (roof! bathrooms!) and that’s got a chunk of my attention. The rest of my time feels filled with lots of little things that all need finishing.
Current Exhibitions
Spectrum 3, at Arch Enemy Arts, will have an opening reception on First Friday, October 7th.
Upcoming Exhibitions
Paul and I continue to prep for our show in Nov 2023. I am gathering a lot of thoughts and testing things and hope to make a fair amount of sculpture (and more) that I can edit down as is appropriate for the show. I’ll get more into some things I’m thinking about soon…
Upcoming Workshops
There is only one space left in my upcoming Animal Sculpture Workshop at Union Hall Arts in Atlantic City, NJ!
You can view more information and sign up HERE
Work in Progress
Upcoming Miscellany
Sale of available work // November 1st, 2022
Sip & Sketch at the Wagner Free Institute of Science // December 8th, 2022
Workshops in Kalamazoo at KIA // March 2nd-5th, 2023
Workshop at Pocosin Arts // June 12-16, 2023
New ways of doing things
I decided that plastic bags aren’t the best wrapping for small desk sculpture and set out to find a cloche to cover in progress work. I did not want to spend a ton and nor did I want one that was too fragile. Enter the Target Halloween section. Perfect. Done.
Now the dome keeps the environments around the clay somewhat like a terrarium. Perfect.
Back at it
Well it doesn’t exactly fall in the “Art making” category but this model horse skeleton is reference material for a piece that I want to do in the not so distant future. Therefore I decided (after years…it was initially inspiration/reference for another sculpture I made) to finally put it together. This was no small feat. I am not a patient person and while this model kit had all the indications that it wanted to go together in a certain way, it did not cooperate as I thought it might. So instead of the relaxing my way back into making something that I thought I was doing, it was more of a “cursing like a sailor and accidentally gluing things to myself situation”.
With much more glue than necessary I got it almost entirely together, after which it almost immediately fell over and broke apart again. SO I’ve dedicated most of the rest of my day to doing things around the house like organizing skulls that were a gift from a friend of ours and making a way for plumbers come through and fix spaces which have not been used since we moved in years ago.
Friday feelings
Me trying to get anything done this week… trying to embrace the slower pace and just be ok with it.
I hope everyone has a great weekend. May cats lay on all your important papers, forcing you to slow down and enjoy each moment.
Weekly Update
I am getting more done in the world of paperwork than the world of sculpture this week, because of much needed resting (but when sitting still I have an innate need to do something so hence all the paperwork…like deep diving our finances and budgeting in addition to the depths of my email.) Below are the usual updates and a beautiful scene from my studio early this morning.
Current Exhibitions
As Above, So Below at Arch Enemy Arts is up through this Sunday, September 18th.
Spectrum 3, also at Arch Enemy Arts, opened last Friday, September 9th, with an opening reception on First Friday, October 7th. I am happy to report that my piece Bluebird of happiness… (Hold it all in) has sold!
I do still have a sculpture (The Alchemist (2021) which is really a favorite of mine) available from Spectrum 2.
The Alchemist, 2021
Upcoming Exhibitions
Paul and I have both started prepping for our show in Nov 2023. I am casting and sculpting and testing. He is buying and gessoing panels and thinking about frames. It’s always exciting to see how different our processes are, but how similar at times. At this point, it is really wonderful to gather images and ideas and throw them out there to see how they change and develop.
Upcoming Workshops
There are only a few spaces left in my upcoming Animal Sculpture Workshop at Union Hall Arts in Atlantic City, NJ!
You can view more information and sign up HERE
Work in Progress
I am not making much this week, but rather taking a much needed rest. Though I am still casting bird heads, now just one a day, which is nice.
Upcoming Miscellany
Sale of available work // November 1st, 2022
Sip & Sketch at the Wagner Free Institute of Science // December 8th, 2022
Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3
While not much at all is getting done in my world this week, last week I was able to test a glaze on these three tiny skulls (which I made a bunch of while taking Simon Lee’s class at the beginning of the summer.) I wanted to see how it looked at one coat, two coats and three coats. I have a tiny kiln, which I programmed for a glaze firing and let it do its thing. They came out great and I imagine I’ll get around to glazing the sculptures I had in mind soon enough. Most people don’t realize that I don’t, almost ever, glaze my work. And I’ve never fired my own glazed pieces until now. That’s why I love making Art…every day is an adventure.
Monday Inspiration
Some things I’m looking at today…
Smallest mold
While I’m not sure if this is the smallest mold I’ve ever made, I’m pretty happy to be casting these silly things all day. And I’m certainly using the smallest plaster bucket ever, which is an old cap to a liquid Tylenol that measures in milliliters. My idea, for now, is to make a lot of them and see where it goes. I have an idea for a piece for our show next November, but I feel like this little skull will end up in other places also.
Also Sometimes was very into the process…
This is how a show starts…
Sketching. Searching. Sculpting. Also skulls. Today has been brought to you by the letter S.
Weekly Update
Back to School! We dropped Olivia off to school today (7th grade!) and later today I’ll start my semester teaching at PAFA. I teach Foundations Experience, a class for first year students where we dive in to the resources at PAFA in the first semester and resources in Philadelphia during the second semester. It’s a class I’ve been teaching since it started and I may have said this before, but I try to make it the class that covers everything I wish I learned in school about the Art world.
Current Exhibitions
As Above, So Below at Arch Enemy Arts is in its last week, so if you are able to see it, be sure to get there before the 18th!
Upcoming Exhibitions
Here’s the full sneak peek for Spectrum 3, also at Arch Enemy Arts, and this show opens this Friday, September 9th, with an opening reception on First Friday in October. To request the preview for the show email Lawren at INFO@ARCHENEMYARTS.COM
Paul and I are continuing to talk about thoughts and ideas for our solo show in 2023. Expect more on that as we head into the end of this year.
Upcoming Workshops
There are only a few spaces left in my upcoming Animal Sculpture Workshop at Union Hall Arts in Atlantic City, NJ! Tomorrow I’ll talk more about the specifics of what will be covered so stay tuned.
You can view more information below or sign up HERE
Work in Progress
Most of my in progress works have been packing related. I did finish up the last of my Tangle sculptures this week and am looking forward to starting new work. I suppose Eddie Bunson is still lurking around, so I’ll finish him too. (It’s silly how much that little sculpture makes me laugh.)
Upcoming Miscellany
I’ll be planning a sale of available work for late October or early November, in advance of the holiday season. I’ll be sure to share it here first.
That’s all for now!
Packing and Shipping
Packing and shipping is a funny thing. It is INTEGRAL to the piece surviving its journey between point A and point B, yet no one teaches it (well I do, a bit), until recently no one talked about it and lots of artists just throw their stuff in whatever box with whatever “packing materials” are lying around. I used to do this, before working for an art handling company, and still cringe at the thought of sending out sculptures wrapped in plaster splattered bubble wrap, packed in old clay boxes.
Now, depending on what the sculpture is, it’s either cavity packed in foam or wrapped in tissue, then bubble, then more bubble and then space in the box is taken up with paper. For very fragile pieces I will double box them if needed. All this to say that a lot goes into this process and it takes a fair amount of time if you do it right.
Below are the boxes of sculptures from my Seconds sale and they are ready to head out to their new homes. This was two days of packing and labeling, but again, that time is really important to make sure that the pieces get where they are supposed to, in the way that they are supposed to. I also feel like it should be really exciting to open these boxes and see what’s inside, so I really try to focus on that as I’m wrapping them. For anyone selling and shipping work, or showing and shipping work, I’d say to think about how the person on the other end will feel opening the box and that is a great place to start. I will do a more in depth tutorial soon.
Labor Day
Very rarely is there a day where work isn’t being done around here and today was no exception.
I finished up my sculpture for Spectrum III, an upcoming show at Arch Enemy Arts, and worked on fixing a broken fellow that came back to me for repairs.
It wasn’t just work though… I also dyed Olivia’s hair. Here’s the before and the not quite dry yet after:
We also fed cake to raccoons and watched the last episode of Locke & Key. Hope everyone had a fun day with a bit of rest!