After almost a year of planning and re-planning then planning some more, I’m pleased to announce my new course, at my alma mater, Pratt Institute. ‘POLYMER CLAY for the ARTIST: An Introduction to Techniques and Design’ will be the first program of it’s kind at Pratt in the School of Continuing and Professional Studies and my first time working on campus since I was a student 40 years ago. Unlike most workshops and classes taught in polymer, this course will be run as a mini foundation art course, and will focus on a wide range of basic techniques, processes and design theories for those students new to the medium. Artists and prospective students working in sculpture, illustration, jewelry, interior design as well as the fine crafts will find polymer offers many exciting applications to their own work. Classes will be taught on the main Brooklyn Campus and will run is a series of 4 weekly classes starting Oct. 4, 2015. Hope to see you there! For more information on the program please go to the Mixed Media section in the brochure at :
In looking through years of photos for this blog, I am constantly drawn to the work I did before I had any real understanding of my chosen medium, in this case, polymer clay. Before all of those inner discussions of practicality, wearability, fine finishing and viability, there was just THE IDEA.
Ideas are powerful. They make you feel as if you can create anything you can imagine. After seeing an image of summer slime mold, I threw myself into making my first large piece, a breast plate. What can I say? Some people are inspired by sunsets, I ‘m driven by the weird gorgeousness of far less lofty things. I was so excited by the process, I felt I couldn’t work fast enough. I had only the vaguest notion about how to make it wearable but I decided to just plow through and worry about silly things like cords and finding later.
Slime Mold
What I didn’t know about polymer clay at the time could fill a book, so when the piece actually emerged from the oven in tact, I just took it for granted. Ignorance CAN sometimes be bliss. I detailed it with gold leaf , a process I had done many time in my faux finishing days. I found some wired ribbon, stuck it through some openings, tied it in a bow at the back and voila! Slime Mold Breast Plate number 1. Yes, It’s messy. It’s unrefined, it’s lacking in finesse but to me, it’s still a glorious statement of energy, growth and contrast. Themes I still explore today.
White Slime Breast Plate
Buoyed by my first success I tried another go at the Slime Mold design in Premo Translucent. This time my beginners luck failed me. Under baked and probably under conditioned, it broke almost immediately, fortunately I had this one pic to remind me. But in the process, a great love affair with Translucent clay had begun.
Translucent Breast Plate
Perhaps I’m drawn to the translucent because it is the most “natural,” least plastic looking of all the polymer clays. I have always felt it looks a lot like beeswax. It also looks like good Cheddar cheese when you first slice it from the block, what’s not to like?
Or maybe it is just the perfect vehicle for doing my favorite cut out/network designs like these early polymer pieces.
Time and again through various art lives, I have gone back to this ‘network’ imagery. Here you see those cutout shapes in 2 large pastel drawing I did prior to working with clay. The are from my Yoga Series.
“The Light Within”
“Sun Dog”
On the surface of one of my first covered bottles.
Bottle Image
And again, My first metal bangle based on an earlier polymer bangle.
Metal Bangle
Polymer Bangle
I have often wondered what it is about this imagery that draws me, and why I never get tired of it. There is a sort of controlled randomness that I find exciting. It also has that cellular ‘growth’ thing going for it. And yes, I have been known to flirt with numerous other design idioms through out my career. My hope is that those flirtations continue to feed my newer work.
Whatever the reasons, I have a feeling there is still more here for me to explore.. With this clay and my networks. Like my friend the slime mold, I have a lot of area yet to cover and a lot of growing to still do.
It’s exciting for me to find so much network inspiration going on in the 3D printing world. Take a look at this site for Nervous System. Maybe In my next life!
Moving back to the city of my birth after 58 years has prompted an unforeseen desire in me to ‘start all over again’. It seems to have pushed some hidden button that has made me want to reexamine things that I thought were done and gone. Most unexpectedly, in my own artwork. This will be the first in a series of blog posts concerning my recent forays into reaching backwards to push my work forward. Welcome and thank you for visiting “ Up From the Well.”
After 3 intense years of making thousands of pieces of jewelry for my business, ( I kid you not, just check my Flickr page ) I was feeling burned out on the whole notion of ‘wearable’ art. I love jewelry making, but I had been spending so much time thinking about chains, and findings and bracelet mandrels etc, that I began…
Moving back to the city of my birth after 58 years has prompted an unforeseen desire in me to ‘start all over again’. It seems to have pushed some hidden button that has made me want to reexamine things that I thought were done and gone. Most unexpectedly, in my own artwork. This will be the first in a series of blog posts concerning my recent forays into reaching backwards to push my work forward. Welcome and thank you for visiting “ Up From the Well.”
After 3 intense years of making thousands of pieces of jewelry for my business, ( I kid you not, just check my Flickr page ) I was feeling burned out on the whole notion of ‘wearable’ art. I love jewelry making, but I had been spending so much time thinking about chains, and findings and bracelet mandrels etc, that I began to loose sight of what originally drew me into polymer clay in the first place.
I missed the mushy, squishy feeling that comes from holding a lump of fresh clay and letting your fingers guide you into the unknown. I wanted to reignite that ‘flow’ that comes from working on something that has no rules yet. So I took a step back to that simple and honest place where many artists begin and where children are always so brilliant. The pinch pot.
Before jumping in, I gave myself 2 loose guidelines. The pot, or mini vessel , should fit comfortably into the palm of my hand, and, it should be able to hold something. A ring, a penny, a drop of water,anything! I have one pot so small the only thing it can hold is single pea. My eyes still haven’t forgiven me on that one…
My first attempts yielded a lot of pancakes with frilly edges. Pretty, but I wanted a vessel, not a jellyfish.
I needed to find a way to build up before building out. I began to recall skills I employed 4 decades earlier as a potter throwing on the wheel. An odd combination of pushing in and steadying from the outside, while pulling up from the inside. 40 years! Talk about stepping backwards! I wondered if could I apply a similar line of thought to create my mini vessels.
My hands became a sort of a defacto potters wheel. Holding the ball of clay in my left hand and twisting it towards me while using a fondant ball tool in my right hand to push the clay up and away from me. The ball tool is like an extra thumb with no fingerprints.
Before
After
By working the clay around and around like this, I was able to thin and raise the walls to a towering 1 and 1/2 inches tall. Then carefully, while still turning the clay, I pulled open the center with the tips of my fingers to widen the shape. A rudimentary vessel was coming to life.
And what about pinch part? Using methods somewhat similar to cane reduction, I could pinch a tall piece to go even taller and create a bottle neck. Or pinch the sidewalls together to give my pot wings. I could completely change a form with a well placed squeeze.
Once I got the hang of it, I was able to move quite quickly between various shapes with one piece informing the next. Here was the good, yummy stuff I had been hungry for. And once these basic shapes were cured, I had a world of choices on how to finish them. The options are endless.
Before
After
Recently, I had the chance to showcase my new collection in an alumni show from my alma mater, Pratt Institute. More going back! I was delighted with the response and sales. And oddly enough, more than a few customers held one or another vessel up to their chest and told me, ‘ You know, this would make a great brooch or necklace” Yes” I smiled, “Yes it would!”
* A gift for my readers.
And, a final gift for my readers before we part today.
Somewhere in the dark recesses of my brain, I remembered the first book I bought myself when learning ceramics. FINDING ONE’S WAY WITH CLAY Pinched Pottery and the Color of Clay, by Paulus Berensohn. I still have it! This well loved, well read, dog eared book was my touchstone. Berensohn’s respect for the simple gesture of making a pinch pot is still speaking to me across the decades. Long out of print, you can find old copies on Amazon. I recommend it for all artists working with any kind of clay.
FINDING ONE’S WAY WITH CLAY Pinched Pottery and the Color of Clay, by Paulus Berensohn.
Up From the Well 