Out of the kiln and back home!

I've been waiting for weeks for my life size man sculpture to be fired and yesterday he finally came home with me! My boyfriend came up with me to the studio to help me lug him into my car. He lost a lot of moisture weight in the gas kiln but he was still heavy enough to require two people to transport him. Here are pictures of my guy and the mat of clay I made to accomodate the movement he would make in the process of the temperature increases. It has been an interesting process and just the changes that happen when water based clay dries, heats up and cools down is amazing! He came through the firing pretty well but as you can see a bit from the pictures, he has several cracks in him. Fortunately, the cracks didn't go all the way through the clay. One of the main reasons we hollowed out our sculptures evenly was to prevent cracks. Cracks happen when the thicknesses are uneven. I really tried to be as uniform in the thickness of all areas but there were several places I missed. I will fix these areas with some heavy duty epoxy and mix in some clay grit to mimic the look of the clay: I hope it works! Overall, its been a positive experience and at least he didn't break a part. I think he came out pretty well for the first time doing sculpture this way. Thanks so much for your positive feedback during this process!

Loading the kiln party!

As I type this, mine and my classmates' busts are drying in a medium sized gas kiln. Here we are loading the pieces, very carefully, into it. I mostly stayed out of the way because of my lack of experience with the process. I was impressed with how careful everyone was with every piece, making sure each one fit by measuring the pieces and the space in the kiln. The sculptures were mostly dry but not bone dry in case some part broke. If the pieces were bone dry it would have been almost impossible to fix--fortunately only one finger came off. These sculptures will dry slowly in the closed kiln for about two weeks or until bone dry. Then they will be fired slowly,to prevent air bubbles from expanding and shattering the pieces, over about 16 hours. It will be a high fire so that the pieces will be able to be put outside. I don't plan to keep my sculpture outside but the high fire will make it more durable.

More progress on my life size bust sculpture!

I can almost say that my piece is finished and ready to fire. Here are pictures of the hands and torso at first cut up and in the process of being hollowed out and then fully formed and re attached.
I used 6 bags of clay to make this piece and then peeled away most of it. If I hadn't hollowed it out, it would have weighed about 100 lbs. Also, there were hundreds of air pockets that would have expanded and blasted the piece to pieces!
It was an almost meditative process to take away the clay and to scrape the inside of the body. The torso started to remind me of a building made of stucco. I included a picture of the inside of the body just to give a feeling of what it was like.
In the pictures you can also see some of the other interpretations of the bust. I truly enjoyed working side by side with these other students and the atmosphere was fantastic, positive, and curious. Most everyone was older than me and had lived varied lives, from working as a butler to whispering to animals. For anyone interested in the figure this is an amazing experience.

Progress! first post on my sculpture

I finally went out and got a new digital camera--a Canon PowerShot G11! This isn't an ad for this company but I'm really happy with it. I understand the wheels and buttons and its not too big and it can take decent pictures in low light.
Also, now I can take better pictures of my artwork which right now is the flat drawings I've been scratching into clay. I also took pictures of the life size bust I'm making in my sculpture class. I will post pictures of the notes I've been taking each class as well.
I've learned so much during this class and so any questions you have about the process I'll try to answer.

Anticipation of a fabulous class!

I am balancing working towards an art therapy degree and making art. I wanted to be in a psychology course this quarter but that fell through so I pushed to get in to a wonderful sculpture class. I have taken a class with this teacher before and now we will be creating figurative busts. Her own work is amazing and I highly suggest you check out her work, her name is Tip Toland. She does very realistic figures but they aren't the solemn faces they have a mischievous humor peeking out from behind their eyes. Here is a sampling of her people...I apologize for not knowing how to do hyperlinks.

Sunday afternoon tea and sculpture browsing...

I've been visiting my mom at Fox Island and looking at some clay pieces I'm working on inspired by couples' dance poses. Looking at sculpture on etsy, I found some wonderful head sculptures that inspire me too.
Artists include: Cheshire cat by tonytahoe
Who am I by ceramiclove
polymer clay sculpture by deetsy
Spring tide by cobaltmoonchild
Yellow head by jennymendes
The Missing Name Creation by ceramiclove
Cat head with cherry by murtondishes
Ed by mwedge

Browsing through etsy on a beautiful spring day...

Here are some cool items that I found while thinking of my Mom and how she likes gardening and garden sculptures...I hope that you enjoy them too.
The artists of these pieces are:
Flock of Feral Glass by FeralGlass
Grass Hopper by frivoloustendencies
Illuminated Crow by Crows Cloth
Illusion by GardenAdornment
Indian Mask by RobinsonMendanka
Metal Scroll Art Planter by KnobCreekMetalArts
Laughing friend by AdrienArt

Rodin and Camille Claudel

Here is some of the work of two amazing sculptors who actually cross-inspired each other. Rodin is more well-known but Camille Claudel is his equal and was rediscovered later on. There was a movie made of their romance and art making which is called " Camille Claudel" I think...definately worth seeing. It is sad that she spent most of her life in a mental institution because she was rejected by Rodin. It makes me feel lucky to live now when at least women have more legal rights but it is an effort for many women who are artists to find their voices even now.