The following pages summarize the highlights and evolution of my illustrious college art career, and a quick peak from high school as well. Although it is now for the most part defunct and trashed, the works I created are still something I am proud of. They represent two very expensive pieces of paper and therefore the artist title is one of the ways I continue to define myself . These days the creativity is channeled through other mediums but traditional 'arting' it is something I may revisit.
KSU Undergraduate Work - early 90's
A First Stab at Abstraction
I remember being inspired by smooth, wavy red rock formations from Arizona for this. I'd seen several pics of the park in a magazine; can't remember the name of it now though.
Stylish Beginnings
These two are examples of mishima* (left) and scraffito* (right) as well as the beginning of my interest in Art Nouveau.
*Scraffito - Applying slip of a different color than the clay you are using. Then you scratch through the surface to reveal the color of the clay below.
*Mishima - To carve away the area of clay on the surface and then refill this carved area with a clay of a different color.
Perhaps the best way to get across a vibe or mood in a painting is with color. The more dramatic the better the effect.
Happy Accidents
This was one of the first pots I started to get excited about. The overall shape, texture and color all worked for what I was going for. The little blemishes in the center and the bottom were created from the pot being placed too close to the kiln wall during firing. It created an interesting design element though, so it wasn't a bust.
In these next three, the Art Noveau influnce begins to take shape via form, curvy line and natural, earthy colors.
This pot was also interesting from the glaze standpoint. Looking at it now the top seems a bit chunky. I remember it was a heavy pot and that lid was permanently fused - oops
This is one that my professor first started to get excited about. Although the glaze turned out very well, the overall shape still isn't very appealing to me. I traded this one off for a painting and the last I heard the guy accidentally broke it when he was playing water guns inside his place.. I think I still have his painting though.
Steve Clark
As a die-hard fan and in tribute to this former Def Leppard guitarist's memory I painted this picture. I remember obsessing over how his face looked and after viewing pics of the painting after I packaged it up, I decided to unwrap and work on it some more. I gave him a face lift. From this pic the face and the arm look pretty muddy but the rest of him turned out well. I sent it to the band after I'd finished the second time. According to the fan club I sent it to they got it.
I worked on a widow pane series for awhile that was partially inspired by the movie Ghost. I thought the figures welcoming Patrick Swayze in final scene when he crossed over were very intriguing.
I also tried to figure out how to make the frame out of a low-fire clay. I designed a dye for the clay to be extruded and mixed up some funky glazes as well. For the painting I made several small canvas', stuck them on a piece of plywood and painted.
The idea was for the window frame to be 3D. The result however would have weighed a ton. Instead I opted to just render a frame with paint. It was much easier and achieved pretty close to the result I was going for.
More Art Nouveau Spin
I spoke with the woman who purchased and still has this teapot awhile ago. She had to do quite a bit of describing before I even started to recall what pot of mine she had purchased.
The vase below was traded for another piece of art.
These two were a natural progression from the ones I'd done earlier that year. The teapots became a series I explored and refined. That was when I began to get really interested and excited by glaze.
High School - the late 80's
This is one of the first paintings I remember enjoying. The assignment was to copy it from another painting. I was on a Man from Snowy River kick and that was a picture of a snowy mountain so it made sense, even though that mountain wasn't in Australia.
I entered it in a 4-H contest once. I think it received a blue ribbon. I remember a constructive comment about the clouds looking like cotton candy and how that cloud cluster looks like it's teetering on top of the mountain.
