Monday, November 4, 2013

Furlough




In our Absence is Presence
Finding light in our darkness,
In our despair, hope.




After two years of rediscovering myself, my work, my life, I am finally comfortable putting it out there again.  It has been a journey, nonetheless, and I am feeling energized about the future.  Learning how to own my creativity has been the hardest part for me, always evolving, not sure what to coin "MY STYLE".  Patterns, shapes, sizes, colors, themes, so many variables with ceramics.  Here are just a few snippets of what I have been working on the past two years...


This technique is called Mishima, which is essentially done by etching the surface of greenware body and applying an underglaze.  Once the underglaze has dried, you wipe it off with a damp sponge exposing only the carved surface.  While I really like the end result, it is very tedious work and room for error on the artwork is minimal.





Which led me to the next technique, Sgraffito.  This process is done by scratching thru the underglaze to expose the white stoneware, allowing more freedom of the pen.  Really enjoy this process, very cathartic and expressive for me.