the dirt

This is my final week in the tiny village of Stodvarfjordur in remote eastern Iceland and I can say already that I am definitely going to miss this place. But, I am very excited to do a bit of exploring as I make my way back to Reykjavic driving along the southern coast road. I’m also very excited that my husband Nate will be joining me for that adventure! But before I move on to other adventures, here’s what happened in my very busy last week in Iceland…

Everything came out of the kiln perfect, which was great. I was able to unload my pieces and start experimenting with all the parts I’d made. We had the luck of having a few days of really nice weather so I decided to start with my ‘in the field’ installation idea of putting the radiolarian inspired forms into the water of the fjord. There were a few technical difficulties in planning this but eventually those got sorted and I got access to a small boat, made some contraptions to hang the pieces from and tested out a few shots with my underwater camera- which came out great! Then, my underwater camera promptly flooded and I was literally dead in the water with this photoshoot idea. So that happened. It appears to be glitch with the all important seal and locking mechanism on the door which protects all the innards. Meh.

Sooo, while trying to figure out plan b with that whole situation, I started making stems for my Angelica inspired Umbel flowers. These came out beautiful and I was able to take them for a photo shoot in the mountains above the village among the real Angelica blooms. I’m still editing photos and video from that shoot, but it was really fun to see the ceramic flowers mixed in among the real ones, they truly looked like they belonged there.

Since the ceramic flowers are extremely fragile, I decided that I wasn’t going to attempt to bring them home to my studio. But I wanted to display them in a really finished way if I was leaving them at the Fish Factory. So I scoured through the endless supplies of materials here and found some formed acrylic pieces that were heavily scratched but just the right size for making a wall mounted holder for the flowers. I took the time to sand the whole surface of the acrylic to faux frost the surface which hid all the scratches. I also drilled holes to put the stems through and made small anchors to fix the base of each of the stems in place. The whole dealio was mounted in the stairwell leading from the offices to the entrance of the factory, there was a window on one side which cast soft light on the pieces and I think it ended up being a perfect spot for them to live out their lives.

Regarding plan b with the radiolarian forms and underwater photoshoot, I am in contact with the manufacturer about replacement of the camera and in the meantime, my husband is bringing out another one when he comes. So hopefully if the weather cooperates, I still have a chance of getting some really beautiful underwater shots of my radiolarian forms. Once they have taken a dip in the fjord, I have big plans for these forms once I get home. I made a mini experimental version here which I’m also leaving behind. I decided to use this time to play and experiment with new ideas rather than worrying about making finished work or a new body of work. I’m at such a good jumping off point for so many new ideas I want to pursue, I’m just thrilled with my time here and I look forward to really seeing these ideas through when I’m back in my studio.

Thank you again to all of you that made it possible!

Consensus: Iceland is amazing, get here at some point in your life if you can! I’m so grateful for all the other talented artists and the team at the Fish Factory who have become friends and colleagues – they really make this experience unforgettable. And I’m so pleased with the new work, concepts and plans that have been created in such a short time. Only complaint… I have been here for four weeks and I have yet to see the aurora – maybe it’s the universe’s way of telling me I need to come back!

Typically, when you get a letter that starts off with the line “thank you for submitting your proposal, we had many qualified applicants…” you generally don’t need to read further to know that you didn’t get it. It happens. I apply for lots and lots of stuff that I don’t get and I’ve gotten fairly numb to the standard rejection letter. BUT…

I got an email this week that started off in just that manner from the Yingge Ceramics Museum in Taipei City Taiwan. I had applied to them months ago for a spot in their 2019 residency program that was specifically for a ceramic installation artist, it was a very long shot but I read a few lines further and (drum roll please….) I GOT IN!

This is a pretty big deal and a very competitive residency especially since all expenses for the artists are paid for, so I’m honored and thrilled that I will be spending 3 months in Taiwan next year working with the community to create a group installation.

Grateful for everyone who has supported my art career and allowed me to pursue my creative goals. Cheers to more art adventures!

 

 

This week is the transition week for me. I stopped building with wet clay early in the week and gave everything a few days to dry out completely, then we loaded up the kiln. It’s still cooling off so you’ll have to wait for next weeks post to find out the results.

But, in the meantime, I took some time to work on some applications for future art events, catch up on office stuff, took the hour long ride to the closest grocery store to refill on supplies but most importantly I’ve started planning out what I’m going to do with all these pieces that I’ve made.

Assuming that everything comes out of the kiln ok…
I have a pretty clear idea of what I want to do with the Angelica inspired flower forms. They will be assembled, attached to their metal stems and planted in the hills above the village where I’ve been hiking. I’ll document them in place and then find a permanent place to plant them at the studio. I think they will be too fragile to attempt bringing back home, but if any of you reading this are in Iceland and would like to purchase them- they will be available!

The radiolarian forms I’ve been making I would like to document in the fjord but I’m still figuring out how to photograph them in the water. The challenge mainly being that the water is just too damn cold to jump in their with them as I normally do for a water photoshoot but I’m sure that I’ll be able to figure it out by building some sort of armature and maybe borrowing a kayak or some hip waders? Once the ‘in the field’ photo shoot is done, I’ll be attaching some of these pieces to acrylic circles to give them their microscopic view and I’m going hang the circles. I’m not sure if these will come back to California with me or not yet, it sort of depends on how they can be packaged up. Fingers crossed that my ideas evolve into interesting results!

If things don’t come out of the kiln ok…
I’ll be telling you all about ‘plan b’ next week! Stay tuned!

Finishing out week two of a month long residency is a little bittersweet. On one hand, you hit your stride, you have a game plan, you are in a rhythm of studio life and communal living with your fellow artists. On the other hand, the reality that you only have two weeks left starts to creep into your brain and the pressure of fitting in everything that you want to do brings on a small tingle of anxiety. I’m trying to balance that out with priorities, working backwards in my schedule and hiking… it’s eased the anxiety, but just a little. It sure will be hard to leave this place for a multitude of reasons!

In the studio, I’ve been working on creating thin porcelain forms inspired by the skeletons of radiolarians (single cell plankton) and I’ve been happy with the forms and how they have evolved from my recent Bone Series pieces, but I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to mount or display them. The good news is that The Fish Factory has a huge room filled with materials that are accessible to the artists and after digging through a few piles, I found a number of colored acrylic circle pieces. These reminded me of the microscopic view I had been looking at in online images of the skeletons of radiolarians and so I thought they would be perfect. Once fired in the kiln, I plan to attach ceramic pieces to both sides of these circles and suspend the circles. I’m also planning an In the Field installation with these pieces here in the fjord, you can take a peek at an experimental video I did dissolving one of these unfired raw forms back into the earth here. This small breakthrough of ideas and working with a new material excites me to continue on with these possibilities when I’m back home.

Simultaneously, I’ve been working on some modified forms combining my recent Bone Series and Umbel Series, which have been inspired by the seed pods, angelica flower blooms and lichen I’ve found on my hikes here. These pieces feel familiar and comfortable to make on a small scale now so I attempted to make one about basketball size which only sort of worked but that’s a story for another post. I’m still not sure exactly what I’ll end up with at the end of this month, but I know that I’ve already learned a ton and I’m constantly reminding myself that the important thing is to keep challenging myself creatively and technically with clay, which is really the whole point of taking the time to do these residencies. Feeling pretty grateful for the opportunity.