You Got Hmmmm

I've been thinking a lot about how the idea of function influences how I view what's sitting in front of me.
I know for a fact, that if a work is seen as "craft" or "functional", it's no longer eligible to be judged as a medium of Art.

I totally get it...
There's a whole lot of functional crap out there made by all of us.
To be clear though...

there is also a whole lot of crap paintings, sculpture, jewelery, glass and "what not" out there at any given time.
To dismiss functional ceramics out of hand just seems like somebody is just clearing the field.

So if a canister essentally becomes a "Doorstop" by giving up it's function,
does it become a candidate to be seen as Art?

I've started firing the lids onto a handful of what I consider Top Notch works that are coming out of the studio.
I think it's valid, but honestly, it really hurts.

Pots are pots.

But after talking about it with my kids, it's quickly coming down to presentation.
This means basing works and formally presenting them as formalistic sculptures.

The up-side is that by adopting this perspective, 

Now all bets are off.

Go Operatic.

Go Big.

Playing the Angle

Yeah, yeah, yeah...

I know.

I have to play with this cliche of form. 

There's just so much possibility.

Cliche or not, this is just round one.
It's been pointed out that the surface and form working together just makes everything "Busy".

 I think I agree...

I think.

Maybe it's just a matter of content.
When I stop and think about it,

  the aggressiveness of the surface might nicely support the "Cock Fight" motif that I've been wanting to play with.

Kick'n the Corpse

 I want to say "Thank You" to everyone who chimed in to help solve my body bloating problem firing this cone 6 Cassius Clay body off.
Simply slow firing to cone 5 worked very well.
My white liner didn't mature at 5 so I refired to 6. I was wondering how this would work out, but the body did just fine in the refire. 

Unfortunately, the liner glaze went south.

 

This was supposed to be a toasted marshmellow glaze.

Strike two...

I'll post the Marshmallow glaze once I figure out WTFH happened.

I actually kind of like the effect of the messed up liner.
Personally, I enjoy something joltingly different, and because the claybody is perfectly fine. I'll just grind and sand the interrior and lip to see how this changes the works' grace.

PotZ

Been revisiting the sketchbooks, entertaining myself by seeing if I have gotten to a place where I can actually make what's been designed.
When I'm in my Happy Place, I draw without thinking whether I could, (or better yet whether I should), make what's running through my head.

Lord knows how much is self-censored in the name of marketability in our studio.
Hell, just getting a photograph of bare clay black on black work is daunting. That alone is usually enough of a reason not to contine making a series of work.  

Issues of shippability due to scale and proportion really don't help at all either.

But I like 'em.
I like this path.

I like seeing these ideas move through from rough sketch to finished work.

I like feeling the surface. feeling it's weight and balance.
How they play with space and profile.

Figure and balance.

I like exploring each piece and enjoying playing with skills that I've incrementally built up. Playing without a thought given to accountability to a mythic market..