merci by karin eda sanborn

a rare post with no images

to leave space for new things to happen

and to give thanks for another rare event

acceptance

which of course,

 is entirely the responsibility of

oneself

Something Other than Clay by Andrea Zimon

I typically carry on about my clay adventures but nothing is yet glazed.

I took drawing over the summer. I am taking illustration now.

These drawing and illustration classes are demanding and stressful but I am thankful to have experienced them because they are making me a better artist.

Here is a sampling of my work. The only thing spectacular about these works is the journey.

From Drawing, pen and ink, line work

From Illustration, Pen and Ink, found object (snaffle), line work

From Drawing, conte crayon

From Illustration, pen and ink, jaw bone, pointillism and line work

From Illustration, Pen and Ink, shell, pointillism

Scratchboard, perspective building

Scratchboard, Still life (the object on the left is a horseshoe crab) 

Scratchboard, shell

Scratchboard, self protrait, Medusa, don't look at it or you will turn to stone. 

we'll dance by karin eda sanborn

A day in the studio, what does it look like? 
How does the work start? 
What informs it? 

Everyone's process is unique. I sit down in uncluttered studio space or go for a walk. 
Then I begin with no idea but I do have tools. 

Phenomenology is the primary cog in my creative engine. Phenomenology directly investigates without preconceived theories or notions. Dabney Townsend described phenomenology as the finding of place.(1)

The French philosopher Gaston Bachelard (1884-1962), wrote The Poetics of Space to celebrate space, time, and imagination through the diverse world of phenomenology. It is a practice where every lens taking the view in is worthy. He wrote: 
A phenomenologist takes the image just as it is, just as the poet created it, and tries to make it his own...to the very limit of what he is able to imagine.(2) 

When the architecture of the world meets the physicality of my body, the five senses engage to experience the transient nature of the universe. It does not matter where I am or if I have art supplies. Now I am ready to begin interpreting the event visually. In the next step of the creative process I practice the shotokan martial arts sentiment, know your environment, to decide the next move. 

(1) TOWNSEND, Dabney The Southwestern Journal of Philosophy Vol. 8, No. 2 (SUMMER, 1977), pp. 133-139. 
(2) Bachelard, Gaston The Poetics of Space. 1994. Beacon Press, Boston, MA p. 227.

cell

2017 observation

Leaves by Andrea Zimon

"Four Bowls stacked"

Leaves inspired these bowls.

I collected the leaves because they were to be the templates I needed to make these bowls. 

I collected them, put them in a piece of folded cardboard, didn't refer to them at all, and never looked at them again.  Until today. 

Today, when I looked at this ceramic project and the leaves in their dried, fragile state, they made me realized how meaningful and transitional this project was for me - artistically, mentally, emotionally.

I make art. The process is meaningful but rarely does the product have meaning*. Typically the finished product goes through my internal critique as I do want to grow as an artist. 

And I will do that as it is too much of a habit to forgo but I think I will sit with the parts of me that are not in artist mode and see what they have to say.  

*For me my artwork is more of diary of sort, noting more of my date than my mood, happenings, etc.

Leaves in their dried form. They were collected at different times last fall. and left in a piece of folded card board. I didn't intend to press them but that is how they ended up.

 I had a pottery assignment to make four bowls each with a different building focus- body, handle, foot, and rim.

Bowl with focus on the body. 

 This molded, stoneware bowl has poured glazed and painted glaze on the inside.

Hand painted with underglaze and commercial glaze leaves.

Bowl with focus on the handle.

 The body was glazed by pouring and dipping. The leaves were painted and glazed.

Bowl with focus on the feet.

Painted with commercial and hand mixed glazes. Tedious but I liked the result.  

Bowl with focus on the rim. 

Commercial glazes dipped and poured. This bowl collapsed under its own weight at the leather hard stage. I was able to fix it, fortunately. It's still very heavy. 

x marks the spot...by karin sanborn

no matter where you go, there you are. unfortunately a week late.

better late than never.



a view into my indexing practice follows.

all you need is yourself and your phone.

Two Projects by Andrea Zimon

I have three more projects to show from my spring semester work. These are two of them. 

The first is abstract, non-functional, and an interpretation of a psychological theory. 

This was also a piece to experiment, carve, and draw with. It was interesting to do a work that was a departure from the rest of my work. I normally don't relate artistically to abstract. 

This project was autobiographical. Internal Family Systems was the theory I was studying and could easily relate to.  At the simplest form, it is a theory that we are based on parts. Mostly the parts I made are not specific to me(except for the horse part) - I took a lot of liberties with the theory. My apologies to Richard Swartz (the creator of the theory).  

Pinched, carved, slab, and under glazed parts before assemblage. Most pieces have minimal glaze.

The horse part. I made this part too thin and it broke and warped. I think the repairs make it interesting, though. The repairs are the lumpy parts are the inner corners of the rectangular holes.  It was fun to draw in clay. 

Assembled. Nothing fits well and I was not wanting to make it so. 

Side view.

Now we are back to functional pieces. This was my clay final exam, the dreaded food project, which was to replicate a culinary delight. Mine was a wedding cake. I would have liked to have been more detailed but time was an issue. Warping was a problem with this, too. I think it stands around 2' tall and is in three pieces. I call it a wedding cake jewelry box. 

Next month is my favorite project called four bowls. 

freestyle by karin sanborn

long

          ago

                                            and

                                                                                                                             not

so

far

away

Aquar-a-room by Andrea Zimon

Instructor said to make a room. I made an aquarium of sorts. The room is sardine can shaped but much bigger than one. My fish looks very skeptical.

The creation facing to the left. I put holes in the back to help with drying. 

The piece looking somewhat downward.  Here you can see I got a chance to play with texture. 

The purple fish. 

Looking right.

Another shot looking downward. It was difficult to get a definitive shot. 

another planet by karin sanborn

the only ones

Geta by Andrea Zimon

I  am working on my project list for next semester's ceramics class. While doing this I pulled out this piece from last semester's work which is a geisha shoe, called a geta. 

 I like my concept, especially the lack of practicality. No sane geisha would wear this geta. 

I loved doing the carving of my favorite motif - a leaf shape. 

I am happy with the result of the hanao (cord). The hanao texture looks like fabric with its cracks and lace imprint. This was difficult to do as I used thin-ish clay and the cracks appeared as I was rolling the clay into a tube. I was hoping this would happen. However, when it got into the bone dry stage I was holding my breath as the clay gets so brittle at this stage and tends to break if handled too much (that quantity you only find out after the piece breaks). 

By the time I had to glaze this piece,  I admit I was tired and snafus beyond my control led to more hand painting than I wanted to do. Hand painting ceramics is great when you have time. Not so great when the end of semester is looming near.  I thought I would water down the glaze to keep its organic feel. I used four colors which is minimal for me.  The black is too strong and the watered down glaze just looks weak. 

What I will take from this project is to plan enough time for the  next projects. I didn't really estimate how much time a piece should take. Glazing, also, tends to be the most difficult for me. Last semester I didn't really put down to paper what how I wanted to glaze things. I will for the next.  

If I stick to a plan next semester will provide some really incredible fodder for this blog.