Through the Fire, Out of The Ashes
The pieces are out of kiln! I just pulled all these magical pieces out of the saggar fire. You never know what you are going to get. The saggar fire process is an ancient pit firing technique where you bury pieces of art in a contained space with all kinds of materials surrounding them. In this case I used steer manure, vermiculite, saw dust, branches from the yard, and a bunch of different minerals from Laguna Clay (I’m not sure which ones because I didn’t have my glasses on! But it included red iron oxide, chrome green oxide, potassium bi-chromate, copper carbonate—some of which I sprinkled directly on the clay, some of which I mixed into the vermiculite in bulk), coffee grounds I have been saving, banana peels…(you can use copper wire, seaweed, salt—there are infinite possibilities.)
Some people are meticulous about this process and have a much clearer idea about the results they are going to get. I, on the other hand, place a rather high value on not knowing. I have so many areas of my life where I am in so much control, even in the forms that are being fired, that I love the fact that I let go of what will happen on the surfaces of these pieces. Knowing that I can re-fire them and something else will happen is a plus…helps me let go. I tried something I hadn’t done before, which was to do a reduction firing right as the heat reached maximum temperature, starving the kiln of oxygen which I’d heard could bring the colors out. I had kind of a wild time as the massive flames started blowing back in my face as I was checking the cones through the spy hole. Needless to say I had to open the vent a little bit. I lit the kiln on Friday and let it stay at around 600 degrees overnight so that I could babysit it all day on Saturday. It was hard to wait for the temperature to come down all day Sunday, but I finally got to open the doors on Monday.
Check out what happened, here are some of my favorites. It’s amazing they all came out of the same saggar. Some were pink, some deep reds and blacks….magical. Love them. Let me know if you want to buy one!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Exciting, Inspiring & Humbling
It’s so interesting. I opened the article in Sculpture Review (thank you Ellen B. Cutler!), and was so excited when I saw the images of my pieces.
I was and am proud of my work, and of course, seeing it in a publication is always a huge boost. But then I looked at Judy Fox’s work…humbling.
Virgin Mary, 1993. Image from Judy Fox website, all rights reserved.
I’ve just returned from a trip to the National Gallery of Art. I stood in front of pieces that sculptors (and painters) did hundreds of years ago that were so much more accomplished than I am. Standing in front of the Rodin’s,
Rodin, The Age of Bronze
Rodin, The Walking Man, 1877
Rodin, The Evil Spirits, 1899
Brancusi’s,
Giacometti’s,
Degas’
Degas, Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, 1879
…all of the works I had seen in books my whole life. But even more so, the artists I’ve never seen, so many of whom were so extraordinary.
Florentine School, Madonna and Child, c. 1425, painted and gilded terracotta
Jean-Antoine Houdin, 1786, marble
Jean-Louise Lemoyne, 1792, marble
Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, Neapolitan Fisherboy, 1857, marble
There is always an impulse to say “why bother?” I had a moment…
I’ve thought about the trajectory of my life. Had I continued my education, taken a master degree or interned with a master, rather than going to work, raised beautiful children…pointless. Ultimately each one of us has our own destiny. We are who we are. it’s dificult being honest with oneself, but essential. It struck me that the most critical thing about powerful art is the combination of craft and voice. I have another 40 years to develop both.
Of course it’s important to acknowledge ones successes. Recognition from peers, sales, but the ultimate paycheck is internal. It’s about personal growth.
George Bernard Shaw said, “I want to be all used up when I die.” That about sums it up.
“Sometimes you have to go away to remember what you already know”
It was 6:00 in the morning and still dark. I was writing on the balcony in candle light…
Its warm and tropical already. The wave sounds are something I could live with all the time. I felt like I was one of the only people awake in the world.
In LA it would be rush hour.
I took my last early morning walk on the beach. I watched the lights go out and the sun come up over the water, a phenomenon unknown to me growing up on the west coast. I realize I have NEVER watched an entire sunrise. It’s amazing.
It took me a while to really wind down and get off the clock- discover my own rhythms. I still got up with the sun. This is the first real vacation I’ve been on in…I can’t remember. It took a lot to get me here and I didn’t want to leave. I’m not suddenly a different person, even there I liked having a plan, even if its “lets go on a sunset cruise tonight.” But the world will not fall apart if I spend a little more time with the friends I love, take a nap in the afternoon, or have a mimosa in bed on a Sunday morning with David, really ask for help AND accept it from people who love me, and absolutely, positively commit to being back next year if not sooner.
David and I had an amazing time!
Cabo San Lucas is an incredibly beautiful place on the planet with a rich history. We met and talked to an incredible variety of people so easily;people from different countries,Xpats, even some teapartyers(is that a word?) - something that isn’t as likely to happen in line at the post office at home. There’s something about being out of your element that just seems to open people up. It’s delightful -
Hard to leave…
Mannequin Mayhem….
At my last day I ran around the mannequin factory with my camera and had a blast taking pictures. You have no idea…how cool. Here are SOME of them! I had a really difficult time editing.
As difficult as it has been to be outside the comfort of my studio, I’ve been grateful for the work, and I have to say, it’s been tremendously cool to see bodies that I’ve sculpted going back 25 years. Every single realistic mannequin in the factory is one of my creations. It was big fun to see.
Also, check out the work my portrait sculpture class just finished.
Back in the Studio
I’ve been aching to get back into the studio. I have some new pieces cooking in spite of the fact that I am just completing a massive push on some commercial work—that has brought my credit cards down from a frightening precipice. It’s been exhausting but worth it. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. During this time I’ve been making contact with galleries, art consultants and dealers, many of whom are friends, throughout the country, that I have lost touch with in the last few years because of how busy I always am. It’s been a great experience to reconnect. I’ve had a tendency to compartmentalize “marketing” as this icky scary thing and in fact every one of my relationships with people that I do business with (maybe with a few exceptions) has been wonderful. But it can also be another full time job…here we go again with “there is never enough time to just work.”
A couple things I am excited about…
I have group show this weekend at James Gray Gallery in Bergamot Station with some new pieces.
We are having a concert for our dear friend and amazing pianist Tamir Hendelman in the backyard, part of our on-going concert series that David Andersen (my sweetheart) and I put on. We have a non profit called Art and Music Support Network. I always create and donate a piece of artwork to benefit Upward Bound House, and incredible organization dedicated to eliminating homelessness in families with children in Los Angeles. If you are in LA check out our website.
I just got back from New York, its always fun playing with my daughter (and hauling boxes and building shelves.) It’s her last year at Barnard. She’s bomb.
AND everybody is making me go on a vacation. I don’t think I’ve had one in years. My concept of a vacation is to be left alone so I can work. I am finally beginning to let go of this idea. Walking on the beach and reading and not DOING anything for a few days is beginning to sound pretty amazing….what a concept.
And then…when I get back, the most exciting thing of all is that I will have had time to write and sketch and be quiet and go into my studio having been nourished with some time to work.
Guest-blogger: Sophie Ragir!
I am ecstatic that Sophie has finally written a statement I get to add to the book, Lifesize Pieces of Women I Love. It’s about her experience of modeling for me and growing up in my studio environment. Here it is, its fabulous…Thank you Sophie!
“I wish I could remember more about the experience of being sculpted at eight years old. What is most powerful in my memory is spending my childhood and young adulthood in her studio, meeting an array of powerful and beautiful women as I watched her ideas come to fruition.
It has been a great blessing, as well as a struggle to grow up as the daughter of an artist who explores the female form. Growing up in my mother’s studio, forced me to explore what it means to be beautiful. To be a young girl looking at beautiful woman was hard at times, as comparisons and ideas of “the perfect female body” came into question. Yet, to see women of all shapes, size, and age be portrayed as beautiful because of who they are—the uniqueness of their form, and the subtleties of their body—became an empowering experience.
When I look at my mothers work, I see an anthology of natural beauty—an admiration of authenticity, individuality, paradox and contradiction. My favorite pieces have little to do with the shape or age of the female portrayed. I am reminded, as a young woman, that what I love about these women my mother has sculpted and what I love about the pieces themselves is their authenticity. It is not the flat stomachs or perfect breasts that make me love my mom’s work, but the celebration of complexities and the beauty of the imperfections.”
-Sophie Ragir
I realized that I have only had pictures of Sophie on this blog. I do have an extraordinary other (child.) His name is Jonah. He is, among other things, a killer base baritone classical singer and I love him to death. Here he is being adorable.
Commercial vs. Conceptual
I was asked to be part of an article for Sculpture Review Magazine about ceramic artists - and of course I was delighted. The woman who is writing it is Ellen B. Cutler. - check her out - she’s awesome (www.ellenbcutler.com). But before we talked on the phone she sent me a questionnaire - as she did with the other artists. Some of the questions were general and some were artist specific - all of them were incredibly thought-provoking and relevant and made me want to answer and know her. One of them sparked the last blog entry. I realize I do so much better with questions than just talking.
It was interesting that she KNEW I loved Manuel Neri,
Artist Manuel Neri
and she KNEW that I was a California artist - we talked about this on the phone after she received my written answers-something about the light and relationship to nature. We talked about the TV show The Next Great Artist, which I have now been watching religiously. I find it fascinating - although the ‘artspeak’ kind of drives me nuts sometimes. I must admit I am envious of the time of making art in a bubble - nothing else - tons of dialogue and diverse perspectives - but I also wouldn’t go back to that time in my life for the world. Read Ellen’s blog about it. It’s FABULOUS. One of the things I have dealt with a lot in my life is the commerce vs. conceptual artist and the struggles and how well each one succeeds depending on their “training ” and how they think.
I have had to do a lot of commercial work in my life, and am grateful for it. At one time I hid it, as a FINE artist. But it honed my skills, bought my kilns, allowed me to be my own patron as my collector base grew, and taught me the difference between my craft and my art. I likened it to playing scales as a pianist. I am not apologetic for it any more. I’ve never had to wait tables - I’ve always sculpted for a living - that’s saying something!
So there…I’m out of the closet!
Maybe someday I’ll get to be in the Smithsonian another way! Wouldn’t that be a hoot?!
Last week I talked about my daughter’s trip to India. Here are just a few extraordinary images from her trip…enjoy!
This is my all time favorite!
Living A Balanced Life
Living a balanced life – as a woman and an artist is extraordinarily challenging. Being both passionate about my work and my children, making sure there is enough time for people I love… Writing is just one more thing. So…no blog entry for a while.
I remember early on feeling like I wasn’t a REAL artist because I wasn’t in the studio all the time. When my kids were younger I didn’t see the men who were artists driving field trips at school or doing block building. Their wives were. It was a choice. A choice I don’t regret. But there are so many times that bodies of work never came into fruition simply because of hours in the day. This is still true today. Unless you are one of the fortunate artists that is able to sell work at a price that pays for the mortgage, sends the kids to school…you have to do other things, which takes you away from your work. This is without even considering time for producing work, shipping, office work, let alone the creative process! Buying the groceries and doing the laundry happens at 6am or 1am respectively.
I have taken daggers for not producing work in constant succession. “Was that a One off? Are you a serious artist?” It’s difficult. The choices that a woman has to make and CAN make are different I think. We are able to hold so many realities at once.
I can drop everything and shift gears – but at a price. There is a toll that gets taken. The powerful desire to nurture pulls away from the desire to nurture the work. Is it selfish to demand time in the studio when your friend or mother or child NEEDS you? I don’t think men operate this way. My daughter just returned from India which was extraordinary and transformational, my sculpture classes are ROCKIN’, I have a show opening in New York in August and an article coming out in October/November. Everything’s great. BUT there’s never enough time to JUST WORK.
So if you are in New York, the exhibit I just participated in last May has made its way to HP Garcia Gallery, 580 Eight Avenue @ 38th Street, New York 10018. The opening reception is on Wednesday, August 4th from 6-9pm. See the press release below for more information!
Woman In the 21st Century- Opening Night!
What an incredibly rich experience! For lack of a graceful way to begin I’m just going to start at the beginning.
I arrived and settled in my hotel room within 15 minutes. John Wronoski, the owner of Pierre Menard Gallery, showed up with the show’s curator, Lisa Paul Streitfeld, and we had a “spot weld” evening that lasted through the night. I fell in deep respect with John and was so honored to be exhibiting at the gallery. I couldn’t wait to see the work of the 30 or so other artists that would be exhibited who I had been hearing about for the last 2 months, including Aldo Tambellini, Heide Hatry, Michael Manning, Aaron Oshan and Suzanne Benton (one of the first founders of the Women’s Caucus for Art at the beginning of the feminist movement).
We got to the gallery the next day and the installation went seamlessly. There were 2 floors of inspiring work.
Francine Koslow Miller and her husband came in as the installation was nearly complete just as an intense discussion about labels ensued (to have or not to have) between Lisa and John. Francine is a renown art critic. It was pretty fascinating.
I love that she loved my work.
In the end there were labels -
And the night began…
Andrea Kalenowski,Gallery director
I met artists, poets, critics, collectors and in general people who I loved and valued. I fell deeply in love with Aldo Tambellini and Anna Salamone (a sculptor and poet he was one of the first artist to work in the East Village.)
I had such a beautiful quality of interaction with everyone that I interfaced with around this exhibition. It was just an amazing group of human beings, interesting, diverse and critical in the best sense of the word.
Revolutionary poets Aldo, Ton Ton Gi and Askia Toure
Suzanne Benton’s mask performance of the tale of Demeter and Persephone was an extraordinary part of the night.
By the end of this performance I was weeping. I had to take a moment and walk out of the gallery to digest that experience away from the crowd. I was so honored it took place in front of my sculpture. As a daughter and mother, it meant a lot to me to connect with this myth, this performance, and Suzanne’s ability to bring us all into that moment with her - I’m looking forward to talking more with her about my experience and hers.
The Pierre Menard Gallery was without a doubt the hippest landing strip in Boston. Thank you Lisa, John, Andrea the gallery Director, Nathan and Liam who hung the show. I am sorry I won’t be able to make the closing reception.
Check out Lisa’s blog about this event too! She has incredible insights and a unique lens through which she views the world.
Somehow or another I found this amazing hotel even though I didn’t know where I was going. This is the view from my window. Ahh-mazing.
Venice Art Walk & Cambridge, MA
I wish I had super powers or a time machine! Two wonderful events are happening this weekend and unfortunately I am going to miss one for the first time in its history.
Venice Art Walk is this Sunday, May 23. For those of you who don’t know, Venice Art Walk & Auction benefits the Venice Family Clinic. I have been a big supporter of this event since its inception. Early advocates of the Venice Family Clinic and the impetus behind the Venice Art Walk & Auction, Irma and Louis Colen were also my very first collectors. Their daughter Corrine has been one of my dearest friends for over 40 years and I spent lots of time growing up in their house. (Corrine, we’ll be passing each other in the air!) I was once part of the “Art & Architecture” tours for which the Venice Art Walk & Auction is also known. Needless to say I am very sad to be missing something I am so passionate about.
The good news is that I have made a one of a kind sculpture that I am donating to the Venice Art Walk & Auction. This sagar fired piece will be up for silent auction and has been set at a really good price. Fortunately my daughter Sophie is back from Barnard and will be dropping off the sculpture later today (thanks honey!)
So where will I be?
At another very exciting event I’ve worked so ardently for, the opening of Woman In The 21st Century: Margaret Fuller and the Sacred Marriage. My most recent sculpture, Sacred Geometry, is the centerpiece for this show. It’s at the Pierre Menard Gallery in Cambridge, MA and curated by Lisa Paul Streitfeld, who’s talents I’ve written about in a previous post. I’ll have lots to report next week about the show, so for now let me simply invite anyone who is in the Cambridge or Boston area to join us on Sunday! Pierre Menard Gallery, 10 Arrow Street, Cambridge MA 02138, www.pierremenardgallery.com, May 23, 6pm.
Inspiration and Gratitude
Where do I start? I have never considered myself a ceramic artist—I’ve always sculpted in clay, but for the majority of my career I cast in other mediums. Until fairly recently (the last 10 years-ish) I had very little experience in firing clay. So for me, it was kind of a head scratcher to be surrounded by all ceramic artits. It had never actually occured to me to focus specifically on the medium rather than he content. This may seem naive, but for me it was a revelation. And I loved it. Of course it brought home how little I really know about clay, and how much I have to learn. I love being a student.
So what prompted this revelation?
Last weekend I flew up to Davis with a good friend, student and fellow artist for a weekend adventure at the California Conference for the Advancement of the Ceramic Arts in Davis. You might know that Davis was the center of the Funk arts movement in the 1970’s and because of that tradition it has continued to develop as a ceramic arts mecca. The whole town was exploding with art, and I mean banks, businesses, warehouses, basements, were turned into a space for exhibition…it was wild. There were 45 student exhibition spaces. There were demonstrations, and a lecture series held at the Varsity Theater all weekend culminating in a talk by organizer and Natsoulas Gallery owner John Natsoulas and Arthur Gonzales, focusing on Marketing and the Art of Rejection.
Jennifer and I attended some fascinating lectures. There were speakers such as renowned artist John Mason, a film and live feed to Nashville (during an electrical storm!) with the fabulous Trompe l’oeil artist Sylvia Hyman, and compelling dialogue about art criticism with Jim Romberg. We went to a great party, and had lively conversation at the home of figurative sculptor Jean Van Keuren.
One of the things that struck me the most about the whole weekend was the incredible collegiality of this community. The open exchange of information and ideas; of process and craft. Secrets are not held close…as if how you make things is the source of ones art.
The whole weekend we just enjoyed being enveloped in community. It was inspiring to say the least.
Being surrounded by all this shared wisdom and flowing ideas surrounding technique and content I began to come to a realization. I have the highest regard for craftsmanship, which is reflected in my work. And while there is a quality in a beautiful surface, or a finely sculpted form, my goal has always been to express something deeper. Sometimes there seems to be a disconnect between craftsmanship and content. As if something that is finely made is only valuable or beautiful for that reason alone, and may be dismissed as lacking content. These are not mutually exclusive qualities and the better the balance of craftsmanship and content the more interesting and beautiful a piece becomes (in my humble opinion!)
It’s the soul of the craft that we connect to as human beings.
AND….my students are sculpture Rock Stars!!!
These ARE clay…really.
Mold Day Monday!
On Monday we made molds on the torsos! Alberto, who I’ve known and worked with for 3o years, came in to teach everyone - so we had an awesome…LONG… day!
First we drew the parting lines on the high points of the figures -
Then we built a wall with clay to separate what would be the front and the back of the mold
We pressed dome shaped keys into the clay walls which will register the two sides of the mold together
Then a first coat of plaster and hydrocal- called a splash coat (for good reason) coats the surface of the sculpture.
The entire piece is covered before re enforcing the plaster with hemp. This coat is smooth and picks up all the detail in the form.
After the mold is finished on one side, we laid it down and repeated the process on the other.
We attached 1 x 2s for stability and to make handling easier.
After a LONG day we opened the molds and they were all PERFECT!
Some work needed to be done on the originals, but then they are going to be fired. By pressing clay into the plaster molds , partial or whole recreations of their beautiful pieces will be forthcoming. The molds hold unending possibility…WHAT A DAY!
ALSO!!! This weekend I hosted an event for an extraordinary non profit organization called California Dance Institute. They take dance into 7 inner city schools where funding for PE and the arts has been cut to almost nothing. This program is modeled after the National Dance Institute, founded my Jacques D’Amboise. “He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin’,” a 1984 PBS documentary film about his work with NDI, won an Academy Award, six Emmy Awards, the Peabody Award, the Golden Cine Award, and the National Education Association Award for the advancement of learning through broadcasting. I met Carol Valleskey, who is a former principal dancer for the Joffrey ballet company and the artistic director for CDI, through my dear friends Karen Benjamin, Killer Soprano, and Alan Chapman, radio host at KUSC. The next thing I knew, I was at the Saturn School, saw these children dancing, and completely comitted myself to giving my energy and heart to this program. To find out more about CDI and the work that they do visit http://www.californiadanceinstitute.org/
And… I’m off to CCACA this weekend, the ceramic sculpture conference in Davis, CA. Too bad there is nothing going on in my life…
The Hexagon
While I was in New York last January at the CAN exhibition I met Lisa Paul Streitfeld, an extraordinary writer, curator, and art critic with whom I immediately resonated deeply. She mentioned something about a show in Cambridge, MA in May that she was to be curating, and suggested the possibility of my participation. I don’t think either one of us had any idea where that would lead us…
Based on seeing my grid piece, Naked Landscape, and Carol, both powerful feminine images, we exchanged books (her book Kundalini’s Daughter, my book Life Size Pieces of Women I Love) and embarked on a relationship.
She asked me to make the centerpiece for the Cambridge show based on the frontspiece of Margaret Fuller’s book, Woman In The 19th Century— a hexagram. The show, Woman In The 21st Century: Margaret Fuller and the Sacred Marriage, is based around the idea of the unity of opposites. Margaret Fuller was one of the first feminist writers and the show is on the bicentennial anniversary of her birth.
This piece has gone through such a depth and breadth of evolution and has been the most meaningful collaboration I’ve ever experienced. I’ve gone through several different pieces to get to the final one. What started as a hexagram (too literal) ultimately became a hexagon.
Lisa has been an inspiration and partner every step of the way, inspiring me and challenging my own limitations. She is an artist in the truest sense of the word. We see the world through different lenses. Her medium is language and mine is clay.
Here is the press release, and if any of you are in Cambridge, MA on May 22 please come say hello! I will be there.
What a Tool…aka Proud and Excited!
This idea came to me from my dear friend and incredible artist George Small. He read it years ago in a John Singer Sargent book as a painting exercise. When he offered it to me I flipped out!
My students had to chose a tool from my studio shop wall, study a quarter of an inch at a time (that’s all you can really “hold” in your mind), walk to the other end of the studio and sculpt. This process took 5 weeks.
Look what they created!
We have ideas about what we are seeing, which in fact have very little to do with what is actually there. By sculpting a hammer or screwdriver it short circuits the assumptions around ‘this is a breast’ or ‘I can’t sculpt an eye.’
Look at these incredible pieces, I am blown away…
Surprise!!!
This has been a week of an intense range of experiences. I’ve been working against multiple deadlines for a show that will be opening in Cambridge, MA in May 2010, and another in June (more to come on those).
But in the midst of it all, my students gathered around and started acting a little weird, finally saying…”we have something for you!” They surprised me with a package. I was overwhelmed, shocked— overjoyed to discover they had all pitched in to get me a beautiful, new, inscribed 32G iPod! (I’m still figuring out how to use it.)
It was an extraordinary gesture and it reflected their knowledge of who I am. I feel blessed and lucky. I’m basking…too bad its so hard for me to express my joy.
So THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!
