tracks by karin sanborn

no matter where you go,
there you are...

walkabout 3:30 am 3/21/17 EST

Um, No Thanks by Andrea Zimon

Minimalism in art?

When I heard that this existed, I decided that I would never be involved with it. No. Not happening. Forget about it. 

How could I? I like the process of my busy art. For me art is therapeutic, not settling into the maw of some art theory. 

In fact, while creating I was arguing with myself on how I could not ever be a minimalist in any way. Much internal resistance and battling ensued. Of course, I should have realized that by saying no to minimalism so vehemently, that I did, indeed, settle into that theoretical maw.

The other day I saw artwork on the internet that had a lot of media in the piece.  It was neither good or bad. It just had a lot of stuff and I took notice. I then had to laugh at my 'involvement'.  So much for never.

I realized something. 

Minimalism didn't want be in my art. It wanted to part of the conversation and to make me aware of the possibilities. 

graphite, fixative, digital effects.

learning to play chess by karin sanborn

Today's topic is concerns the latest studio challenge.
Typically I find the 'make' process easy on a certain level. Show up, create, express with intention, often oceans of it. The problem is not this current level. Getting to the next level is.

The most recent art coaching involves trying to create 'with the least possible moves'.
If this were chess, that is equivalent to a master who captures your queen before you know what happened. That is the kind of piece I am working towards.  This doesn't mean no effort. In fact to get there it is hard for me to imagine what it won't involve, meaning it will take everything I have, and then something I don't yet have, to make less. A false equals sign.

Step 1: Definition of user requirements.

Later will come development, feasibility, and then only after these components will manufacturing occur. Then edit ruthlessly to remove all that is not 100% in service of the goal.

Today and everyday is groundhog day until step one is mastered.
This is me sitting still with the emptiness of square one. No horror vacui allowed.
I will imagine Sol LeWitt as my opponent.

The Journey of Claywork Part 1 by Andrea Zimon

This is my second semester of clay and here is a peek into my project binder.  Over the next four months you will get to see how all the work develops. 

 Project #1 is an autobiographical assignment.  I am studying psychology and this piece is based on one of the theories I am studying. I will create a piece of  puzzle sculptural parts based on that theory. There are about ten separate parts that are supposed to fit together.

Project #2 is slab container inspired by architecture. My creation is going to be a jewelry box with trays inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater which has about four separate parts. 

 

Project #3 is making a tea set inspired by a 20^th century painter. My tea set is inspired by Mondrian’s Composition No. 10 Pier and Ocean. The Mondrian aspect will hopefully be present in the handle and teapot overlay. 

Project #4 is a room assignment. I was going to do a  horse stall but I changed my mind and created an 'aquarium' room. 

Project #5 is a coil vessel with neck.  My goal was to make a braided, wonky effect with three coiled tubes. It will need to dry, to be sanded, and to be fired.  If it survives those stages, then I will decide how to glaze it. 

Project #6 is creating a shell from a pinch pot. This was the project I started after the Christmas break and it took some time to get the clay mojo going again.  It is almost complete except for some drying, sanding, and visiting the kiln.

Project #7 is four bowls that focus on the body, rim, feet, and handle.  I have started the body one which looks completely different than the sketch. I call it creepy bowl. It is very delicate and I am not sure if it will survive the kiln but I did put in the effort to make sure pieces stay on. We shall see. 

Project#8 is positive/negative cylinder and with a much negative space as positive space. It has been started but I am having some technical issues so this may need to be restarted.

Project #9 is a food project that is also our final. I came up with doing a three tiered wedding cake with flowers. It may end up being another jewelry box of sorts because I need to make it in pieces for easier handling.

Project #10 is a shoe concept.  I am doing a stylized version of the gita (geisha shoes).

by karin sanborn

Clay Journeys: Mine and Others by Andrea Zimon

As a new potter, I am discovering my need/want for new clay tools. In my research I somehow, ended up on one of Liz Crain’s blog entries discussing tools (lizcrainceramics.com).  But she had another entry “The Pretty Poopy Jar -Aesthetics in Action” that grabbed my attention and was well worth the read.  Liz Crain is an amazing potter (and writer) who does skillful things with clay via trompe l'oeil and glaze to make her work look authentic and from another time.  But to sum up her post in a less eloquent way, Ms. Crain purchased a homemade jar at a thrift shop whose beauty at best might have been speculative. What the column itself made me reflect on is all my thrift store handmade pots and my own homemade pots.  The only ‘poopy’ ones are mine, simply because they were school assignments that didn’t inspire me but they were a learning experience. We all make 'poopy pots' when we practice, we just tend to call it something less benign. 

The collage dish (above and below). Assignment: texture clay, rip pieces, place in a form and give a nice twisted rim. I made it mine by using my personal collection of horse stamps.  

The process looked really intriguing when my instructor did her example which took her about fifteen minutes. While mine took far longer to create, at least I can say that mine kept its structural integrity through firing. Some my class mates didn't fare so well with the rim falling off or the structure itself splitting. The glaze didn't stay on my rim though so I got to learn a new word called 'crawling'. 

I also conducted another glaze experiment in which I expected success to no avail. I used underglaze (the black part on the bottom) as a solution to avoid drips and chiseling it off the kiln shelf but still experienced drips to the bottom even though I used the glaze sparingly. It glued itself to a 'cookie' and was easily removed. The home made glaze wins another battle against Andrea and another session with the grinder is required.  I should also point out that my instructor, Judy Rossman-Mee of many clay making decades, makes the glazes. They perform beautifully for her. They hate me. I remain determined to have a working relationship with them. 

The dreaded extended pinch (above). Same story, the one my instructor did looked awesome. I tried to make  mine with hearts and a heart broke off while being fired (no structural integrity prize for me this time).  You will be shocked to know that the glaze didn't perform well for me, again. 

My canopic jar came out well. I used commercial glaze on the head and Judy's glaze on the bottom. The glaze just seemed to say ' this work is worthy of  performing correctly'.  All the poopy moments were worth it to get to this point. 

Now for my  thrift store finds.  They should have never ended up here but I am glad to have them in my collection. 

Below are done by 'JD'. They house my one of many rock collections. They also corral my erasers and the occasional stray acorn or shell. 

 

 These two keep the glue and tortillions under control. They are signed but I cannot read them. The leaf might be JC and the purple one might be Seth.  They are both well done. 

This is one is has really cool details. It has buttons for the wrap. A distinctive glaze job. My inexperienced eye suspects a salt glaze because of the orange peel finish but I am not sure. And the maker created their own stamp for the signature which I sadly cannot read. Everything seems to say experienced potter with this one. I hesitated to buy this one because of the color, but forgave it because the work was so good and this was before I knew word one about clay work. 

These are my musings for clay this month. Realize that clay fascinates me and while I may sound super critical of my work, I am really laughing at myself.  I am really having fun and looking forward to the next project. I know that clay, like anything, requires practice and I am so ready for next semesters projects, except if they are collage or extended pinch. 

body of evidence by karin sanborn

Last Friday evening I had the pleasure of seeing a new group show in Boston that goes by the title APATHIE. My post this month focuses on Jennifer Murphy's installation work here. She is both an exhibitor and champion behind the project.

Some art sticks like glue once met, or maybe, could it just be new air, floating around something significant that was allowed through an open door?  Peripheral to the entrance I encountered what feels like a complex breeze. I hear its whispering notes, a contemporary Song of Hiawatha. Murphy weaves threads from a void into matter. Like an apparition, there are pieces left to witness, but not an entire form.

This beauty realized is a drink from the melancholy wine of remembrance. The artist's own hair adorns the main gauzy element and the walls of this tomb. Intimate feminine objects are frayed like the threads barely holding things together, yet they carry no stain of life force. These materials speak directly to me and to my own relationship to animal bones and hide. This kind of practice suggests an archaeology in the spirit of Love After Death.

Many days later, this encounter still sits beside me, accompanying, materializing in those empty spaces of ether that circulate around singular experiences: the morning cup of tea being drunk, a piece of toast masticated. Murphy's visual poetry hovers, follows, and sits like a spectre. I am not alone. My friend, the sound of silence sits with me, dulling the incessant din outside with its open maw. It commands my attention and I readily give it.

The show's title suggests lack of interest and emotion. The work presented is a stark contradiction to that concept when placed alongside the evidence presented. The construction of Apathie's disinterested, honest skeleton-dancing together with a spirit of loss and reverence in the highest order-is what Feminism is all about... if you ask me. Tell it like it is, tell us how you feel. Bravo.