Studio Update
This month didn’t start off great. As I moving something near my drying bench, I bumped my first liberty horse sculpture. Next thing you know it goes flying, bumping itself as it falls down to the ground- disaster!!
Inspiration
A break from sculpting
After sculpting animals, people, and other things I wanted a mental break from it. I’ve always loved coiling as I don’t have to think much about what i’m doing, especially when if I don’t sketch the shape first. I had some left over re-wedged terracotta clay, which I used to create this coiled pot.
Repairing a break
Most ceramicists or potters will tell you that cracks in clay can be impossible to fix. I’ve struggled with them in the past, particularly when the clay sculpture has different drying points. For example, the foot of a horse sculpture will dry quicker because it’s thinner than the head of the horse; this in turn means the legs will be more fragile. I had to do some research into different crack fixing methods:
Water and vingear- adding a touch of vinegar reduces shrinkage of the clay.
Water and clay (slurry)- simple method of bonding wet clay together
Slurry, water and clay- bonding and using original clay body helps bond better than just water and clay.
Slurry and newspaper- the newspaper can help bond wet clay together and make it stronger. Paper clay (mixed) is used for large sculptures. It also keeps the sculpture moist inside, slowing the drying rate.
I decided to go with a mixture of methods which made sense to me. I filed down the broken end of the legs so it was flat, soaks the tips in water for around x1 until I thought the leg and horse leg (the body) were wet enough to be cross hatched (or scored). I used my clay body with less grogg and added a bit of vinegar, cross hatched the two ends and stuck them together. I smoothed the joint with the fingers before spraying the leg with water vinegar mix, then i wrapped the joint with a plastic wrapped tightly. After around 4 - 6 weeks, the joint seemed to dry well with no cracking!
Making a figure for the liberty series
Along with a standing horse sculpture from the liberty series, i wanted to create a figure to go along side it. The figure and horse are to represent the ‘join-ing’ up process, with the figure walking ahead of the horse looking back. The shoulder of the figure should be pulled back with the head looking over the shoulder, glancing. The horse was made prior the figure, following the figure in a walk motion and head slightly down.
Exhibition of the month
I’ve decided I’m going to try and visit at least 1 exhibition a month. Since I graduated and have been working alongside my ceramics work, I find that I run out of time to visit exhibitions! This month I decided to go to Barbara Hepworth’s exhibition at the Towner Gallery in Eastbourne. I’ve always admired Barbara’s work, she might even be my favourite artist, and it was such a treat to have this exhibition up in the South East of England. As some might know, the Tate in St Ives Cornwall have a special gallery dedicated to her as she lived down there; I’ve wanted to visit it for a while now but because it’s so far it’s quite a challenge to make the time aside from on holiday!
The Exhibition was very well curated, starting with her creative career following through to her death 1975. Her first work was quite different to what i know it now, she began with more figurative work with faces and learn’t a lot from her partner at the time. She then moved into more theatrical work, still sculpture, and then onto figurative abstract. She had a family as the time, which made it difficult for her to made time for her creative practice. I think most of us would relate to Barbara after visiting the exhibition, she was a very real artist living a normal life yet created these wonderful abstract sculptures mirroring her environment.
If I could recommend as artist to read into, she’d be the one!
Glazing and mounting of the dexter cow
This month I also glaze fired a dexter cow I made for my parents. Where I work is at my parents house, and they own a small herd of Dexter beef cows. They’re lovely short legged cows but have a great firey personality! As a thank you for letting me use the studio, I made them this Dexter cow sculpture in my signature glaze- it’s they placed onto a unglazed black clay base.
