the dirt

My third week at Buffalo Creek gave me my best results yet! I learned a lot in the previous two weeks and the kiln loads of those experiments but ultimately I ended up tossing most of that work. Using what I learned from those failures, I created another batch of the thin flanged porcelain forms and I also experimented with making the same forms but in terracotta (another clay I don’t use often!). Nearly all of these pieces came out of the kiln unscathed – yay! – success!

I also installed a piece from the Umbel Series on the grounds as a part of the permanent sculpture collection. These pieces are soooo tedious to make, every tiny wire is cut and placed and dipped in clay to create the tips of each of the flowers. I swore I would never make more of these flowers but the whole point of a residency is having the time to just make. And so I did. You can see more images of this piece here.

Oh! And as the field trip for the week, we got to tour the Cress Kiln Manufacturing facility which is based just up the road in Carson City… it was pretty cool to see the process of the kilns being made and assembled.

Only one more week to go before I head back into my real life… lots to finish up here and I definitely need to climb another mountain before I go!

I’ve completed a piece during my residency at Buffalo Creek Art Center and it’s now installed on the grounds as part of the permanent collection! You may remember me making an experimental Umbel form about a year ago and it was so tedious to make that I swore I wasn’t going to make another… Well, I did (actually 5 more) and I think that they came out better than the original, plus they have tiny beads of clay on the ends of all the wires making them even more tedious. I actually love how complex and fragile their structures appear while actually being quite sturdy pieces.
Click here to see more images of the pieces installed…

Even thought the two pieces in this photo didn’t survive, I feel like I made some progress this week…

I was able to get a few kiln firings going, which really let me know where I stood on my experiments. I had a few collapses and a little breakage but I also got a few gems out of the kiln. The flanged bone forms and the aspen leaf forms I was playing with actually became beautiful translucent porcelain pieces. These results gave me the confidence to go ahead and make more pieces improving on my building and slow-drying techniques. I’ve kind of decided that if I can figure out how to build these ultra fragile porcelain pieces (which require the slowest of drying process possible to succeed) in the desert, in summer and get good results- I’m golden.

Oh! And as a side adventure… you know that 10,000+ foot peak that was just begging to be hiked from outside my studio window, yeah… we bagged that peak!

 

Buffalo Creek Art Center was as beautiful as the website had promised when I pulled in last Friday. Its back nestled into the eastern Sierras with Carson Valley laid out in front, each nook of the property offers a new corner to explore. And off the property, there are lots of mountains waiting to be hiked!

On my first day here, I set up my studio space with a large window over looking the mountains and was also introduced to one of my studio mates Harry Pollit who was working on carving an abstract wax form that will later be cast into glass. Our other studio mate Austen Brantley, who creates figurative work in clay, joined us a few days later and the three of us have settled into a rhythm of studio life.

I got to work using two different types of porcelain that I had wanted to experiment with to attempt to create very thin edged forms similar to those in my Bone Series but a little more delicate. It’s pretty warm here and it’s hard to get these thin forms to dry slowly, so cracks started forming quickly, I also lost a few pieces to wind and general studio casualties but the survivors are loaded in the kiln and we’ll see how well they do in the firing. In the meantime, I also have been taking the time to work on some tedious umbel forms that I just never gave myself the time to create in my own studio. It’s been an interesting first week of my residency and I’m looking forward to the next three. Tomorrow I’ll unload the first bisque, assess the experiments and continue the problem solving from there.