Chickadoodle! Pot

This is a pot I made for my friend Bridget who lives near the summer camp I used to teach at.  I went to visit her at her beautiful f 1800's farmhouse during the summer of 2009.  While I was there she showed me her new chicks and kept calling out "chikadoodles!" while we threw them Japanese beetles, borage and nasturtiums to feast on.  This inspired me to create the Chickadoodle pot pictured here.  There is an inscription that says "For Bridget" on the bottom but I told her if she wants it she has to come visit me in Washington.  It's a bribe to get her out here.  Bridget hasn't seen the piece yet.  This will be her first chance to view it.  Thanks for the inspiration Bridget!

The pot measures 6 3/4" tall and is low fire clay with under and over glazes.

Summer Pots

These are some ceramic pieces I did the first and second summers I taught at Camp Chateaugay in Upstate New York.  They're lowfire and I love the bright colors.  They're small, the tallest one measuring 6" in height.

Micole as Siren

Here's a painting I did of my daughter, Micole.  For some reason birds are attracted to her.  There is a metaphor here but I'm not going to explain it.  I'll let the viewer figure it out for themselves.  It measures about 10"x11" and is acrylic on paper.  I was thinking of it as a study for a larger painting.

Monarch Polymer Clay Chrysalis-work in progress

I was doing some research on polymer clay as I'll be incorporating a piece into one of my mosaic murals. The new work will be based on the monarch butterfly and the Spanish word Mariposa which translates to butterfly.  I sculpted a polymer clay chrysalis for the center of the piece and then painted it with acrylic paints.  The finished work measures about 5 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches.  Under the chrysalis will be a light fixture so that it glows.  I don't really care for the plastic look of it.  I think I'll overlay the piece with another very thin layer of translucent polymer clay which is what I've been using for it so far.  Then the painted piece underneath will show through and look more like an actual chrysalis does without, hopefully, looking so plastic as the rest of the piece will be glazed clay and glass.  This is new territory for me as my work in polymer clay has been tiny to say the least.  Just some fun stuff in the past with the kids.  A couple of years ago I saw some work on the internet by an artist who makes lamp sconces out of the clay that were amazing.  Can't find the stuff anymore.

While researching polymer clay I came across a Canadian artist named Marina Bychkova, http://www.enchanteddoll.com/,who creates incredible porcelain doll/sculptures.  She's from Vancouver and is showing at the Dragonspace gallery on Granville Island during the Winter Olympics this year.  I'd love to go up and see her work as I'm just south in Washington state.  I hate to even call these dolls as they're each an incredible piece of art.  She also has a blog, http://www.enchanteddoll.com/blog/, where she talks about her process.  I'm not really into dolls in general but like I said these are pieces of art.  Makes me want to try something like this.

Blue Heron and Hamsas

Here is a blue heron clay piece I made while directing the ceramics program at Camp Chateaugay in upstate New York.  I worked there for the last three summers.  Unfortunately a crack formed on the left side.  I'll be using it in a mosaic and the crack will fill in with grout so I think it will be okay.  This is porcelain with underglazes on the herons body.  The background is regular glazes.  I absolutely love blue herons!

  

These are hamsa hands and were created by me as samples for a project I had the campers work on.  The children made them by placing their hand on the clay and tracing around it.  They then cut out the pocket and attached it to the hand.  

The oldest hamsas originated in the Middle East. They are believed to bring their owner happiness, health, good luck and fortune.  I hang mine on the wall and put fresh cut flowers in them.  One of my students told me that in Jewish homes they are hung on the wall near the front door. Then a prayer is written on a piece of paper, folded and placed in the hamsa.

Bird/Sconce Mosaic

Here's a wall piece I made a couple of years ago which incorporates a bird tile made by another artist named Parran Collery and  a glass wall sconce shade.  I also used broken cups, plates, and glass beads.  There are leaves surrounding the entire piece which I made out of clay  All of the empty spaces between where filled in with stained glass.  It looks very nice a night when the sconce is lit. The whole piece measures approx. 24 x 30 inches.

I really enjoy making ceramic/glass mosaic murals which incorporate light.  It adds another dimension to the piece.

Yosemite Valley School Mural

Here's the Yosemite Valley School Mural.  It's much further along than this now.  I expect it to be finished and hanging up by the end of  May, 2010.  My friends Laurie, a teacher's aide at the school, and Catherine Soria, the principal, have been painstakingly cutting and gluing small pieces of stained glass to insert into the background around the ceramic pieces. Laurie's father, daughter and several other's have helped as well.  This mural is six feet in diameter.  My husband welded a huge metal frame for it and it's going to weigh a lot when it's done.  It will be mounted on a wall at the front of the school and a native plant garden will be planted around it.  We've been working on this one for about 3 years now.  It was inspired by a "tree of  life" mural we saw in Dunbar, Scotland 4 years ago.  It's kind of a sister school which the Yosemite School visits every 3 years.  John Muir was born in Dunbar but as a child immigrated to Wisconsin with his family before moving onto the west coast as a young man.  The Dunbar school visits Yosemite as well.