by Carole Epp | Jul 25, 2007 | Uncategorized
Diana Fayt’s blog One Black Bird is one of my regular reads and lately she’s been having guest bloggers, which I think is a brilliant idea. She’s always got insightful posts about her studio practice and related topics and is a great artist and thinker in her own right, but I wanted to bring to light a recent post by guest blogger Laura Zindel as I think it raises a very important issue about “green” ceramics, which I know for me is always in the back of my mind in my own pursuit to be not only a thoughtful consumer in my day to day life, living in the most sustainable means possible, but also finding a way to bring this into my ceramic practice which is by it’s nature not very eco-friendly. It’s a great topic for discussion so I hope you’ll check it out.
by Carole Epp | Jul 25, 2007 | Uncategorized
I think it’s sometimes weird how my attraction to different ceramic styles develops. Some seem to be obvious aesthetics for me to be drawn to and others are sometimes quite far removed from my own working aesthetic that they are almost another language, yet I still find I can acquire inspiration from the whole spectrum of varied styles and processes which make ceramics so unique. I thought this week I’d spend a bit of time introducing some work that I’ve recently fallen in love with, have been inspired by for a while or have had in the back of my mind for years now.
This first artist I just recently discovered via the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition’s website which has a great database of participating artists from the last few years. Frederique Bonmatin’s work stood out to me because of the crisp colors and dramatic geometric lines. He’s a potter from Montreal and although his website is in french it’s easy enough to find the gallery section and he does correspond in english if you’re interested in further info about the work.
His work also reminds me of the work of Ettore Sottsass whose work I’ve found inspirational since discovering a book on his work at a small used book store in London in 1999. I’m particularly drawn to his Tantra Ceramics from about 1969 which have had an obvious influence on my latest series of functional stoneware. Here’s another website with info and images.
Another artist I came across via the TOAE website is Danny Choi. I just love these “Torso Flasks”
These pieces were developed while Danny was a student at Sheridan and are thrown and altered, creating a beautiful movement with the clay that shows the sensibility of the artist. Here are a few more pieces of Danny’s which I find captivating.
I find in my own work I lean towards the more geometric structured aesthetic as the graceful movement of pliable soft clay often alludes me and when I do try it looks overworked and contrived. Yet from the boldness of colors to the subtlety of traditional celadons and copper glazes, from the drama of geometry and architecture inspired forms to the material properties playing centre stage, I just can’t get enough. It’s all just so darn inspiring!
by Carole Epp | Jul 20, 2007 | Uncategorized
Okay, I realize that this is now 2 pictures of my cat on the blog and I promise not to turn into someone who talks about and shows constant pics of their pets and children, I swear there is no photo of my cat in my wallet! But this was just too cute. It’s a late friday night in the studio and she’s been patiently keeping me company. Takes up more than her share of the bench though!
Well time for a break, the weekend is going to be ridiculously hot so I’m taking a bit of a breather. I’ve got a few things i’m putting together for next week, hopefully a few artist profiles so keep an eye out.
Have a great weekend where ever you are!
by Carole Epp | Jul 16, 2007 | Uncategorized
When I was working on my masters I was introduced to Southern Ice Porcelain which was unlike anything I had ever worked with before. I quickly fell in love with the ease of achieving translucency and the stark white of the fired clay. For the past four years now I have been working almost exclusively with the clay for my functional work. However last fall during my semester as artist in residence at the Red Deer College I began slowly to experiment with other clay bodies again. I began looking for a clay that I could use in contrast to the white porcelain. At first I thought of working with glazes and making some darker, matte black pieces, but that juxtaposition seemed to obvious and overdone. So I thought of my reasoning for loving the Southern Ice so much and it was because of the inherent properties of the clay, and thus I set out to find a clay body that I would appreciate for it’s material properties and then figure out the glazing later. I ended up working with Plainsmen H440 and 443 which is an iron rich clay that fires to a darker brown in reduction and interestingly somewhat mimics a traditional stoneware look in highfire oxidation (which I have yet to really explore and experiment with). I found that the speckling of the iron and and richness of the color were an interesting mix for the porcelain. I’m still at the beginning stages of this investigation with the claybody, partially as I have limited access to gas kilns right now, but so far I’m intrigued by the path it’s taking. I think there’s still lots left to be refined and exploited with this new material, but I thought I’d post a few pics in the meantime.
I’ve also started working on new but complimentary forms as well, I didn’t want to simply mirror the porcelain work in a new material, so the new forms have slight alterations or are a different form altogether. But hopefully, and I find, they still work well together in sets of porcelain and stoneware. I’ll post more pics in the next month or so as new work goes through the kiln, I’ve been working on large covered jars, platters and altered pieces with this clay ~ another perk in that it is far more responsive to certain forms than the porcelain which is far more likely to warp and crack when I push it too far!
by Carole Epp | Jul 16, 2007 | Uncategorized
It’s late Sunday afternoon, and I think I’ve now resigned myself to the idea that it’s just too hot to work today. The heat has made me procrastinate all afternoon and now, well I’m just not in the mood. I did take a few pics today of some new floor vases. I love testing out new pieces and the sun was just too nice to not take advantage of. Hope everyone had a great weekend.
