Sunday, June 8, 2014

Summer Happenings/ MFA Thesis crisis

Here are a few new sculptures that I have finished this spring. Each of them are currently in exhibitions. Unnerving Anticipation is at the Meadville Coulcil on the Arts, Breathing Exercise is at Youngstown University in Ohio, and Dirty Martini is at "Critics Choice" invitational at the Harlow Gallery in Hallowell, Maine. I'm excited to have already had my work in eight separate exhibitions this year, and in six different states, but I have some haunting questions.

 Each of these pieces are quite different stylistically, formally, in scale and in finish. They're all made by me though. As an artist, Is sticking to a style necessary? Is it appropriate for artists to experiment with different modes of expression? If an artist isn't recognizable, will they be successful?

I am a student at the moment, and for that reason I suppose that I am given more flexibility to experiment. I am not always compelled to make the same type of work, but I do always work with a concern for the environment as a main source of inspiration. Is this enough? can/should each idea be executed with the same style, or does each scenario deserve a unique approach?

I will be mulling on these questions during this summer, and hopefully find some confidence to stick to one answer or another, before I start in on my thesis work.
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Unnerving Anticipation
Unnerving Anticipation


Breathing Exercise

Dirty Martini

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Recent "Form"al Sketches wood-fired tests














Shot by Aaron Pickens

Shot by Aaron Pickens












Sculptures from Candidacy Show "4 Sight"

 This work was made during the fall semester of 2013, the end of which marked the half-way point of my graduate school experience. Three other compatriots, Aaron Pickens, Austin Wieland, and Nash Quinn were approaching the same gate, and we decided combine powers and curate a show that would qualify our work as candidates for "Candidacy".

The work I made for this show continued a conversation that I have been developing with my work. Mythology, humor, heritage and cultural reference all play a part in how I investigate the relationship between humans and the natural world.
I express loss, irony, beauty and the uncanny as a way of reflecting my experience as a participant of the human/nature relationship.
"This Hossenfeffor's Raw"  Wood-fired Porcelain.  Image taken by Aaron Pickens   2013

"Keep Your Nose Down" Wood-fired Porcelain, found wood  and metal   3013



"Keep Your Nose Down"    2013

"Mother Goose" Earthenware, Glaze, Slips   2013

"My Little Pack Mule" Earthenware, Glaze, Slips  2013

"Tripped" Earthenware, Glaze, Slips. 2013.

"Tripped" Earthenware, Glaze, Slips. 2013.
"Tripped" Earthenware, Glaze, Slips. 2013.

"Tripped" Earthenware, Glaze, Slips. 2013.

View from "Mother Goose" Image taken by Aaron Pickens  2013

Image of "4 Sight" A show by Aaron Pickens, Austin Wieland, Benjamin Lambert and Nash Quinn. 2013. Image by Aaron Pickens

Image of "4 Sight" A show by Aaron Pickens, Austin Wieland, Benjamin Lambert and Nash Quinn. 2013. Image by Aaron Pickens


Saturday, August 3, 2013

2008-2012

Blue Hinge-Fish.  Cone 6 Oxidation, 18"x16"x 6", 2008,
Headlight, Cone 6 Oxidation,  8"x 6" x 4". 2008
Cone 10 Wood-Fired, 16' x 11" x 7"  2009
Huh?, Cone 10 Wood-Fired, 18" x 8" x 6", 2009
Puff  Cone 6 Reduction, 14" x 12" x 7" 2009

Dressed to Impress.

Dressed to Kill

Echo

Erosion


Ink Blot Test
Liveaboard


Liveaboard (Detail)


Mr. Squid-Bird-Head (running wings)

Mr. Squid-Bird-Head (Flying Wings)
Fish-or-Man
Up a River

Sturgeon General

Sturgeon General (Detail)





Sunday, July 28, 2013

Wrapping up Spring Semester 2013

It has been a while since I have done a post in here, but a lot has happened since my last post. I finished my first year if graduate school, got married to my lovely wife Jodi Carpenter, and made a dinnerware set for a wood-firing that just reached temperature under two days ago.  The intention of this post is to wrap up the end of my semester last year. Some images are of older work that I never documented until recently and other images are from pieces I made for the show, entitled Over the river and Through the Woods, that I completed with my classmate Jocelyn Howard. The work that I made for this show was my attempt to explore how classic American, Environmental Icons are relevant today. you can probably guess that my outlook is not cheerful.
Bird Woman.

Bird Woman with Papoose

Bird Woman

Cardiograph Specimen

Ceolicanthipuss

Herring

John Muir

After a lot of musing, I decided to call this sculpture If a Bear Falls in the Woods. The whole piece is over 6 feet long



Gallery Shot with Light Hawk at the Diner

Gallery Shot with fish and JM