Archive for February, 2012

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York & Friends Fine Art


2012
02.29

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York & FriendsI am very pleased to announce that Ron York of York & Friends Fine Art has agreed to represent my clay sculptural work in his gallery.  Ron and I have known each other for many, many years but just recently began talking about the possibility of representation.  For the “networking works crowd”, our conversations began at the   2012 Belmont University Alumni Art Exhibit where Ron’s paintings were displayed near some of my sculptural bottles.

York & Friends Anniversary - Gallery CelebrationThe York & Friends gallery is located at 107 Harding Place near the intersection of Harding Place  and Harding Pike here in Nashville, Tennessee.  If you need a good excuse to stop by, please mark your calendar for the York & Friends anniversary party reception on March 10, 2012.  I am making plans to be there to mingle and talk about my own projects and would love to see friends stop by. From the description, there will be a great crowd and great food…plus new work from the featured artist, Vicki Shipley.  If you are unable to make the reception, it is my understanding that the anniversary celebration runs the entire month of March.

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2012 Alumni Art Exhibit


2012
02.17

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Posted in Shows and Sales | Comments Off on 2012 Alumni Art Exhibit

2012 Alumni Art Exhibit - Belmont UniversityThe Belmont University Alumni Art Exhibit runs for one more week.  Visitors can stop by the Leu Center for the Visual Arts to see the work of seven Belmont alumni who have work in the show.  This was my fourth year to curate the show and my second year to have ceramic pieces exhibited. There is an article in Belmont News that covers the show well and I understand that another article is coming soon in The Contributor.

The pieces shown in this image are the finished product that I wrote about at the end of last year as I was preparing for this exhibit. It does feel good to hear the positive feedback from friends, faculty, and fellow artists.   In the next few weeks, I hope to have an announcement about representation for my sculptural bottles. I’m keeping my fingers crossed!

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Ocarina Making Satisfaction


2012
02.15

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Posted in Ceramic Musical Instruments, Construction Techniques, MugPhlute Chronicles | Comments Off on Ocarina Making Satisfaction

Sculptural OcarinaIt has been a while since I took a day to construct a sculptural ocarina. For those who have not been following along, my sculptural ocarinas are fully functional, single octave ceramic musical instruments plus there is a significantly different, sculptural look to each of them. My earlier face-sculptured ocarinas did not have the detailed facial features of this piece.  For several months I have been studying portrait sculpture and facial anatomy to get a better understanding of how to form facial emotions with some degree of believability.  Even though the face on this ocarina is caricature-like, I would like to believe that the direction is toward believability.

One commenter on my Flickr account noted that this instrument looks either Mayan or Aztec.  That is intentional and may be more evident if I can master the making of custom decals…but that is a post for another day.

Ocarinas with this much ornamentation (approximately 9 separate pieces assembled) brings with it a greater risk that cracking or breakage may happen in the firing process.  The majority of these pieces survive.  Some do not function as well after firing as a ceramic musical instrument due to warpage in the airway and tone-producing fipple area…all the more reason to at least have a surviving sculptural piece that can make a great conversation piece.

I have been asked on several occasions, “Why are these pieces so expensive?”  The total time to form, carve, assemble, tune, fire, glaze, and re-glaze several times can be upward of 20-30 hours. Factor in the cost of materials and energy and what may look like a toy become something of a serious investment.  For me personally, the “AH-HA” moment when a new friend hears the flute-like sound for the first time and inevitably smiles one of those happy, raised-eyebrow smiles makes it all worthwhile.