01 September 2011

Stealing Back to that Same Ol' Used To Be

I've been seriously obsessed with the birds for about a year and a half. I've made about 125 serious pieces. I'm ready to give it a rest and return to making boards and boards of useful pots. I need that satisfaction.
I am planning on firing the wood kiln twice more before the year is out, which gives me the chance to shake the cobwebs off and make those pots fly off the wheel.  I"m never going to be a great big pot maker, but I like the form of these below. I just don't know what a big pot should feel like...how much it should weigh? These are 8 - 10 pounds. The two on the left are vases. I'll make one more batch of these right away (which probably means next week! Tomorrow is First Friday and I have a couple of things left to finish and Sunday is Ellie's birthday, blah, blah...).
Speaking of First Friday, come on out and see Trista Chapman's wonderful and colorful earthenware pots and silk screen prints from the folks at 'Itty Bitty Press'!
22" high

To wind up my bird frenzy I undertook to make a tree with a few bird perched on top. Some of the first things I ever made in clay were tree-like and I've long thought about making them (trees) in clay,
trying to figure out how to defy gravity. Once the birds came along this was inevitable. The coarse surface and throwing of my sculptural work will be set against the rich crackle slip/ash glazed birds.
detail

6 comments:

FetishGhost said...

Those 8-10 pounders are simply gorgeous green ware for oh-so-many reasons!
I've been wondering what that aesthetics of that size are supposed to be as well.
All I can figure, without actually getting to hold and explore masterworks of this size, is to bring each work into balance with itself.
But I know saying something like that is just preaching to the choir.
Gorgeous canisters Dan...

Hollis Engley said...

Nice to see the containers come back, Daniel.

gz said...

lovely jars...still like the birds and books!

cookingwithgas said...

you had me at jars...... but you really had me with the details on those jars.
Well balanced and well thought out- love the embellishments that just brings them all together along with the stoutness of good lids and handles....dreamy!

Dennis Allen said...

Love the forms and the sense of fullness you give the jars.I'm inferring that the kiln made it thru the big shake OK since you have the firings planned. Hooray!

Brian said...

The jars look great. Nice shapes, and the proportions look nice.
The tree is just WOW!. When you get back into bird mode, you need to do more of that!