Cup Forms

I spent a lot of time this past year obsessing about my handled cup form. I made several grossly unsuccessful (and frankly un-sellable) attempts at reinventing the cup, in an attempt to have it speak the same language as my other pottery forms. Anyone who peeked into my studio looking for cups, surely walked out with wrinkled eyebrows, scratching their heads. I am going to spare you the cups that didn't make it to sale status, and instead post the two cup-forms I feel most successful about. The first, a cup and saucer, features a beaded handle that is tedious to make, but surprisingly comfortable for the one-finger grip. I have a passion for form and design and enjoy bringing a touch of the unexpected to functional ceramics.

The second form is a very simple, generic form that lends itself to illustrated surfaces. The contours of this cup shift smoothly from one angle to the next, meaning no surface of this cup is unavailable to an illustration. In fact, what I enjoy most about this form is being able to wrap the drawing around the bottom. The stories illustrated are of creatures engaging in some sort of play activity: roller skating, dancing, jumping on a trampoline, playing with a ball. I love that the illustration is not fully visible to a spectator until the cup’s user drinks the last drops of liquid from the cup, fully exposing the bottom and the entire picture.

Works in Progress: Teapots and Covered Jars

I have been working on some more complex forms the past few weeks: lidded jars and teapots. Man, is it slow-going! All recent graduates strive to synthesize the information collected over three years of graduate school and I am so grateful for this residency and the opportunity to do just that. I look at the work I have created over the last five years and I see the progression into these forms (even though I am still working out many kinks). I am looking forward to making the surface and color decisions to put these babies to bed and on to the next round!

Beyond the Squirrel: Explorations of Imagery

For the record, I have not broken up with the squirrel. We are just seeing other people. He still occupies a lot of space inside my creative brain, but I am exploring other vehicles of storytelling. Since I have been in West Palm Beach at the Armory Art Center, I have been exploring themes of water and self image. The platter here was created on a hump mold with craft foam relief (for the outline and the waves). The surface is mishima and underglaze. The soft square of the platter refers to a comic window or a retro television screen. The little girl in the background wears the same colors as the older woman in the foreground. I want the viewer to question their relationship. Are they related? Are they the same person? Are we looking into the past or the future or both? The back of the platter (not pictured here) contains another image that contributes to the story.