Notes

ABOUT VIDEO (2:55?)

EDUCATION
Cecil Academy of Art, Florence, Italy
Haverford College, BA, Sculpture
Ohio State University, MFA, Ceramics

THEMES AND MOTIFS
-four humors
-question, sentimental
-question, devour

"the figures are feral and uneasy, expressing frustration for the human tendency towards cruelty and lack of understanding. Entangled in their own internal and external struggles, my figures are engaged with the subject of fear, apathy, violence, and powerlessness."

MATERIALS
-clay
commercial cone6-10 Soldate 60 from Aardvark Clay & Supplies;
50% Lincoln Fireclay
25% OM4 Ball Clay
25% 60 Mesh Sand
2.5% Custer Feldspar
(18% shrinkage factors in to drying and firing)

also uses cone 6 porcelain-Kurt Weiser's recipe mixed with Mason Stain and fired to cone 2-6

-epoxy
long set time and pigments added to match sculpture surface
PC-11 (12 hour set time)
Apoxie Sculpt (2-4 hour set time)

-paint
Mostly Flat Interior Latex Paint, but also Terra Sigillata and Vitreous Slip
"Most of the time I am searching for surfaces that emulate the texture of wet clay or bare skin."
(olympia, i'm sorry, the inquisitors)
"If you look at a high quality can of flat interior latex, you will notice that 99% of the materials in that can of paint are calcined clay and other creamic materials. So, in essense, I am using an unfired slip on the surfaces of my work, which gives me a beautiful clay-like matte feel to the sculpture."
Martha Stewart Design Interior Latex
"The brochure I saw claimed that these colors had been specially formulated to evoke certain emotional and psychological states when used in the home environment; I was in love. Each time I create a piece, I consider which specific color to use on the surface of the work-often the "emotional content" of the color and the emotional content of the form are in direct opposition with one another-creating a subtle tension between the exterior and interior of the piece. The domestic and the feral."
(four humors?)

PROCESS
>several weeks/months-writing about ideas, creating 20+ 3D thumbnail sketches and [maquettes] for exhibition; 6-8 figures, central theme
>1-2 weeks-"[pipe armature] that will support the figure as effortlessly as possible in order to allow the most dynamic range of gesture and expression." wooden dowels for limbs
enlarge print of maquette; build armature in front of the block poster
(METHODS "The Choleric", other armatures)
>building, sculpting
[800-2000] lbs of wet clay to rough in and then several weeks to a month to hollow out.
"In order to move the mass around, I use my whole body: striking it with chunks of wood, digging into the surface with the palms of my hands and my nails, carving away 20 pound pieces with wire, and slamming it back onto the surface."
1/8 of time creating and 7/8 preserving
-hollowing
-drying & firing (METHODS, Tangled Up in You)
IN SECTIONS
pieces are loaded into the kiln at wet-leather hard stage so they can handle the stresses of being moved inside the kiln and any repairs, adjustments or final touches are still possible.
shrink slab, supports
remove all rings of the kiln, leaving just the floor
sits in kiln for a week to equalize moisture level of the atmosphere
SIX DAY FIRING SCHEDULE: TABLE
to cone 2 (2100° F)
-reassembling
work the fired sections before reassembling: alter gesture or correct warping and distortion
(grind, shape, retexture)
(RUSH OF BLOOD?)