Crappy Taxidermy

Here are some images from the Image blog Crappy Taxidermy. The site celebrates all types of taxidermy from the silly to the serious to the downright awkward.
I like visiting this site if I need some inspiration. It doesn't always work, but its usually entertaining

Radio radio radio lab

Last week in Art History Seminar, we read Oliver Sacks "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat".  Oliver Is a fascinating neurologist and author, and is also a regular guest on the NPR program Radio Lab. I would like to share one of their episodes with the artist Chuck Close and Oliver Sacks both as guests. They discuss how "face blindness" affects their lives, and how each of them deals with their condition.

Listen to:
Strangers in the Mirror

"Lyle" by Chuck Close 66"x 54"

Low Temperature Soda Firing

Over the weekend, I fired my first glaze load in EUP's Soda Kiln. The firing wasn't absent of the usual anxieties of firing an atmosphere kiln, but I was firing tall figures that were made of earthenware. For the soda ash to collect on the pieces as a glaze the kiln must be fired to at least cone 01 ( I have been told Cone 1 too). I was feeling like the temperature would put too much stress on the figures, and my worry was somewhat right.
As I was peering into the kiln, I was keeping an eye on a 34" standing figure and made mental marks of the inside of the kiln in relation to the profile of said figure. The mental mark and the profile seemed to be getting closer together, but I kept firing. The piece was indeed starting to lean, and in fact the figure was leaning a couple of inches past the mark I had chosen inside the kiln. The kiln wasn't hot enough to melt the soda ash at that time. Was I to turn the kiln off or keep ramping up until it reached temperature? Well, I noticed that the tall figure stopped leaning because it came into contact with a support post that held another figure up. That gave me a bit more time, but I didn't want to chance affecting anything else in the kiln. At this point the cones showed that the temperature was a couple cones behind, but I was skeptical of the reading and figured that deeper in the kiln was hotter than where the cone packs were next to the door. I started spraying in the soda solution. I put some in the two front ports and peered in. Suprisingly, the work had a slight sheen to it, which meant that the soda was volotizing.
I kept spraying in soda for the next half hour and shut the kiln down 5 minutes after the last spray. here are images of the results. The work was pretty dry where the Terra Sig was but pretty juicy on raw clay. 

All loaded. Just need to brick up the door

Close up of bracing. I needed to put more stilts on the taller figure since it leaned forward about 12 degrees.

After the firing

A lot of Sig flaked off. Probably because of the colorants underneath it

I'm happy with the results of the Lumberjack

The fisherman leaning on the lumberjack support

More flaking sig on the fisherman

Slow Prog

I have begun to finish some work that I have started here at Edinboro. Glaze tests have been interesting, but there is a lot more digging to do. Here are a couple of images of finished fish. Four sculptures are in the soda kiln getting ready for some low temperature atmosphere, and i'll post images is the results are up to par.

Lake Erie Specimen

Specimen

Tom Waits Show-and-Tell

Tom Waits  Show-and-tells an 1800's stoneware rat-trap on the Letterman Show!! This is where two of my favorite things meet.

The progression of Paul and "George"

It has been slow progress on the lumberjack figure, but he has taken some good turns. I have been editing the alignment of his structure, repositioning his arms and neck, and broadening his torso... and also giving him legs and arms. His trusty blue ox, Babe, has taken the form of a skull that he will be transporting in some manner. There are still some important decisions that I need to make about the final existence of the piece and the relationship between Paul and Babe.

Paul and George side by side

Paul

George