McKnight Residency Journal

I am going to try to use this blog to let friends, family and any of my interested students keep track of my McKnight Residency progress. I proposed a rather large sculptural project for the application and learned that I received the award last year, a good sized monetary award and use of a private studio at the Northern Clay Center. I will be leaving for Minneapolis, where the Northern Clay Center is located, in 2 1/2 weeks and will stay there for 3 months in order to complete the project!

I have been seriously thinking about and working (as time allowed during the spring semester) on the project since around the end of January (while trying to get some pots made at the same time). What I have right now for the most part is a vision of the end project in my mind, some pretty general sketches, a lot of notes, a lot of glaze tests, maquettes, and some technical accomplishements (in other words nothing much worth seeing yet) but I will include images of the process as well as the (hopefully more beautiful) end product.

As a very brief overview of the project my goals were the following....

1. To do a lot of experimentation with decorative surfaces and to break my decorative choices up into sub groupings that would determine imagery, color, aesthetic etc. I chose the sub groups based on my visceral response to the seasons where I live now (oppressively hot summers but beautiful, lush and wet springs ...Arkansas) and where I grew up (freezing cold, quiet winters and outrageously colorful and crisp falls...Connecticut).

2..To see if I can achieve a visceral response (how those season feel) from the viewer through visual imagery alone.

3. To do a lot of technical experimentation applying decorative surfaces (drawn, decaled, carved etc.) on a 3-D and textured form...work that could also be applied to my pots when I return.

4. To make a large piece that would take up the equivilent of 3 months or more working time as this is an opportunity I may not have again for awhile

5. An added component since I started working...learning how to make molds for slip casting.

In the end I envision 4 large patterened wall panels (4 seasons) with multiple sculptural objects all of which will be highly decorative. Below you can check out examples of some of the first bits of progress in the process. Please keep in mind these are process images for my own records so they are not meant to be viewed as professional quality images!

The roughest of ideas and notes in my sketchbook, ideas for the winter panel.
color choices, form texture and surface ideas
Background for the Winter panel
maquette (model) cut to scale for the background panel on masonite board
Close up of a maquette for the winter panel. I may use Kera Flex porcelain sheets for the "snowflakes" but they are quite expensive and may not come in sheets large enough for my needs.
Background for the Spring panel
same cut to scale
A maquette of what the sculptural objects may look like on the panel (those are mini slip cast birds from commercially made molds)

These are the full scale birds from commercially made molds in a very quickly thrown together maquette. (obviously the proportion to the background is way off)

As I mentioned in #4 I intend to make all of the forms from molds using a process known as slip casting. This is a new process for me so there has been a learning curve but I am getting the hang of it. My molds aren't beautiful but they will get the job done. I will use some commercially produced molds but 90% will be molds that I have made myself. at the moment I have made about 10 successful, mostly small molds and probably 5 unsuccessful ones...I have 400 lbs of #1 Pottery Plaster though so that should be plenty for all of my molds plus a few mistakes. I will post my molds making progress in a few days. Hopefully I will get faster at creating these posts!Now off to work, I have many more molds to make!