New Work Taken to Made in The Maritimes, December 19, 2017

Here are pics of new sculptures which were dropped off last week at Made in the Maritimes Artisan Boutique's Hydrostone location.

Huge thanks to Joel for carrying my work for the first time at this most busy time of the year! This iconic business supports a multitude of Maritime makers at two excellent Halifax retail locations (The Hydrostone Market and Sunnyside Mall) as well as via their online shop.

All of these pieces are cone 6 stoneware, and were fired in my electric kiln with a variety of commercial and studio-mixed glazes, underglazes, stains and slips.  They range in price from $35 for the smaller figurines to $225 for the largest sculptures.  

Although I often work in series, these are all 'one offs' as I do not use molds, stamps, stencils or transfers of any kind.   

First up are 6 larger sculptures:

This fox is approximately the size of a large pineapple (I think), and is the tallest piece of the group.

Moose.

 Skunk holding flower with "Om" symbol carved into its haunch, rabbit holding flower with yin yang on haunch, "peace pig" and a sheep.

 Another view of the pig, which has a flower on its other haunch:

A look at the flowers the skunk and bunny are holding.  These were initially intended to be 'ring dishes'.

Next are two seagulls, a lobster, a whale and a shark:

Four fox figurines:

 Four sheep:

 Four crows:

Four Blanding's turtles.  This is a threatened species in Nova Scotia and the subject of habitat conservation campaigns by the Nova Scotia Nature Trust:

Four bears:

Three birds: (a chickadee, robin and bluebird)

Squirrel, deer and buffalo:

Four goats (three billy and one nanny), four chickens and a rooster.  When sculpting the chickens I thought if they were an Ikea item I would name them "Bok Bok" after the sounds real chickens make.

 And finally a couple of Easter chicks and Thanksgiving turkeys.

That's it!  Three cheers for everyone supporting the buy local movement this holiday season!

Now Available At The Dart Gallery, July 16, 2016 - Murder at the Dart and more

The firings went well for "Murder At The Dart" (hooray!).  Super huge thank you to Jane, The Dart Gallery's owner, and artist Lee Cripps, for including my ceramic pieces in Lee's show of amazing new crow/raven works.

Here's an installation shot from The Dart Gallery's Facebook page:

Here are pics of my pieces, starting with the big stoneware wall hanging  titled "These Crows Are Happily Married":

It was decorated with a combination of homemade slips, commercial underglazes, and homemade glazes.  I was pleasantly surprised that this didn't crack anywhere, seeing as it had to be carefully flipped over while green to work on a few times.

Next is this round lidded vessel:

 

 I love coming up with ideas for functional sculptural pieces.  This vessel combines relief carving and sculpture and I imagine it as a good hiding place for something precious.  Like the wall hanging above, this was decorated with a mix of slips, underglazes and glazes although for this one I did use a commercial ultra clear glaze as well.

Next up is the largest crow sculpture I've made. This bird is maybe a bit fat-bellied, so I imagine him/her as having gotten into too much trash.  To the right is another new product: a baby crow in a nest that is intended to be used as an ashtray.  Alternatively this piece could sit on a desk and hold a pen in the crow's mouth, and maybe some thumbtacks or paperclips.

Next are two large crow bowls, the bigger being the biggest one I've ever made.  Here again it was such a relief to open the kiln and see that these pieces survived the bisque firing unscathed, where they are quite thick in parts.   These are most definitely food safe, and theoretically dishwasher safe, however handwashing is recommended.

While I have made a few other crow bowls before, on these the interiors received a swirl of a white glaze, inspired by pics of Jupiter's aurora. 

 

The second crow bowl, smaller than the one above.

The next bunch of pics are new wall hanging crows and figurines, which were made with a black stoneware clay from Pottery Supply House, resulting in a darker finish than the above pieces.

This pic includes sitting wall hanging crows on branches, something I hadn't tried before but which has led to more ideas for 'bird on branches' wall hanging pieces.

Next are figurines.  There are 7 'larger' ones, including one on a branch. 

And here are some smaller crow figurines grouped with a goose figurine.

Next are some flying crows from previous firings.  These ones were all made from the white stoneware clay body that I normally work in.  

Also in this firing for The Dart Gallery, though not part of the show, were some new figurines.  

Here are some mushrooms that I thought would make for 'figurine habitat' while providing a chance to test some new glazes.   Hanging out among these mushrooms is a frog and dragon. 

 Pair of owls:

Raccoon:

Pug:

 

And finally another view of that goose in a blue neckerchief, which was inspired by this much loved motif found on many antique and vintage collectibles.  

 

"Murder At The Dart"  is up until July 28th.  If you're thirsty or peckish, Picnic at Dart - the gallery's newly expanded resto/bar -  has created a delicious crow-themed menu - copy/pasted below -  to go with the show.   Note that some of the show has flown over onto one of the restaurant walls.    "The 4 & 20 Pot Pie" item title made me smile, and if anyone else couldn't remember the whole "sing a song of sixpence... 4 & 20 blackbirds..." rhyme, here it is on wiki. 

Finally, as an aside, the feeling of being really inspired while working on the new pieces for this show reminded me of how I felt while painting this crow painting in late 2011 - which was posted on this blog before.  It was painted with the caption in mind as I worked on this to calm down about our impending move to the country.  Oddly, the scene ended up being much like out our back door on moon lit nights, with the branches looking like winter branches on the giant oak tree closest to our house.  The next full moon is Tues July 19th, 7:59pm Halifax time!

"Reassuring Crows"

Now Available at The Dart Gallery, September 2nd 2015

Here are pics of a few pieces I dropped off at The Dart Gallery  in Dartmouth last Friday (August 28th). 

First up, wall-hanging stoneware flying crows!  I brought in a small flock, varying in size and price point from $40 - $125. There's this brand new one from my last firing which is $85, the others are a bit older.

 Here is one of six smaller ones for $40

 And this one is $75

This is the largest one, for $125.  These are all hand carved as I don't use molds.

This large stoneware tortoise comes apart into 2 pieces that could be used for serving food. I made this piece back in 2010 and plan on making more stoneware tortoises soon.

Tortoise.  Stoneware $220

The next 3 sculptures are older but favourite pieces of mine!  Time to see if they're ready for new homes.  I made these from earthenware in 2008 while I was studying ceramics at University of Regina.  They were bisqued, then wiped with a black stain, and fired again.  

These owls were part of a big body of work I did for a show that year call "Portraits, Presence and Play" with Regina painter friend Jana Kutarna.  

Single Parent. 9" tall x 13" wide x 4" long, $225

These Owls Are Going To Get A Divorce.  11" tall x 12" wide x 6" long $240

Teenagers. 8.5" tall x 12" wide x 10" long $275