Infant Tree clinging to Rock Outcropping,
Mount Baldy, Alberta, 2000
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Infant Tree clinging to Rock Outcropping, Mount Baldy, Alberta, 2000 |
Anyone who has seen a lump of wet earth centered on a rotating disk magically rise from between a potters hands can attest to the magic of clay as a material. Many astounding transformations take place as a lump of earth begins as a wet, formless plastic mass, is purposely shaped, and then emerges glowing hot from a furnace, cooling to reveal a hard, stonelike substance which now permanently bears the marks of the hands that shaped it. The magic of fire does not stop here; multiple layers of what looks like muddy water is then brushed over the surface of the now hardened clay and it is one again subject to the heat of the kiln. If everything goes right, what then emerges from the kiln can be a far cry from the wet earth and muddy water raw materials that you started with.
From a technical perspective, clay has been a most challenging as a media for me. Claywork seemed to be shrouded in an aura of mystery, and overwhelmingly low general level of technical knowledge permeated the general clayworking community. This is not to say that people were unwilling to help. Quite the contrary....potters were more than willing to spend inordinate amounts of time listening to my poor plights and tales of woe, however the scope of creating life sized clay figurative sculpture was beyond the scope of the center of their experience or skill set.
 In Progress, March 2002 |
 In Progress, December 2001 |
 In Progress, December 2001 |
 In Progress, December 2001 |
 Primeval, 2001 |
 Primeval, 2001 |
 The Rift, 2001 |
 The Rift, 2001 |
 Untitled, 2000 |
 Untitled Detail, 2000 |
 Erosion, 2001 |
 Erosion, 2001 |