DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Proposal Statement – Project 1

 

            For this first project I want to come back to a technique I developed in my work back in 2011, building vessels using coils as both the construction method and surface design elements. I want to build larger pieces (10 inches or taller), and make 3-4 vessels of varying shapes that are tied together through the use of this building technique and curved vessel forms. I plan on using Death Valley for the clay for these forms, to give them an earthier feel – the red clay suggesting the underlying flesh of the form, and trying at least two different glazes – thicker semi-matte (maybe a Bristol glaze?) to thinner (Shino or tenmoku, or something with a metallic sheen?). The glazes representing the skin of the form will play with the ideas/associations with thick and thin skin. I am more drawn to the idea of the forms relating to figures, and am imagining both flattened ovoid forms and rounder, fuller vessels with an egg-like shape. I want the forms to have large curved surfaces to show off the intricacies of the coiled surfaces. I am working on sketches of possible forms and researching ideas from the work of others.

            

This construction technique of coils and spirals gives the work lots of movement, and a feeling of organic abstraction. Because of how the pieces will go together (the construction method) the shapes of the form are somewhat dictated by the process, so the forms “grow” in an organic manner, and sometimes stray from the original idea. The simple curved lines of the form help to reign in and contain the chaos of the coiled design. The technique reminds me of the full-page doodles I used to do in high school, that would grow across the page and dictate their shapes as they grew.

 

            In a lot of the work I do in different mediums, spirals and coils are often incorporated, which harken back to the Celtic spiral designs of my Irish ancestors. The compact, organic shapes relate to nature (coiling tendrils of plants, coral colonies, seed pods) and to human biology (the brain and intestines). In contemporary culture, they reference the earth, gaia, the environment and nature. Some of the words from the list of concept and aesthetic words that resonated with my ideas for this project are: fantasy, form, identity, nature, power, sexuality, systems, The Other, abstract/organic abstraction, assemble, random/chance, multiples, contrast, ancient, low-tech, pattern/decoration and psychedelic.

 

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.