Sometimes my dreams are powerful stories that leave me with particularly potent images, feelings and meanings. Over the years I’ve tried to write about my dreams upon waking but this was never very satisfying and one day about 5 years ago I decided that I wanted to try to capture these images and stories with art making. This made more sense to me anyway; trying to translate such visceral non-verbal stories into words was always a struggle. Right brain to left brain. Whereas expressing them in art making felt closer to the original dream = right brain to right brain. Some might protest that writing is right brained and yes it can be but for me it's not as much as visual arts.
This dream imagery is moody and has an amorphous quality with one color flowing into the next and I wasn’t sure how to approach this expression. Actually it was a little scary since it was a real departure from the ultra planned mosaics I'd been making for 15 years.
In order to achieve an effect that accurately expressed what I was seeing and feeling, I needed to be able to create in a more intuitive way. Again, mosaic wasn't IT for this and I didn’t want to work sculpturally. This had to be something more like painting. One might ask “ why not use paint?” And it’s a fair question but for me, clay is my way. Painting is wonderful but it doesn’t have the same magnetism for me that clay does, clay collaborates with me, it teaches me, it brings forth my ideas and takes me to new places. So I turned to my favorite medium to find a different way to express myself.
I was well-versed in creating imagery on tiles in more traditional ways for example, I made the tiles below using a pigment to paint the flowers blue over a matte white pigment. Then once fired, I put a clear over the whole thing and fired again.
This method has a fairly clean look but if I used glazes rather than pigments, the colors would run into each other blurring the imagery and that seemed more promising.
I also remembered how I’ve used glazes on pots over the years - layering and applying the glaze thick to get one color and thinner to get another. Also applying it so that the glaze runs creating a cool effect.
Here is a tea bowl I made previously showing this kind of application and you can see how the glaze creates a depth, texture and mood:
I began experimenting and applying glaze and firing it and adding a different glaze over it or next to it and firing again. I should mention that I’ve been taught that re-firing clay especially repeatedly is frowned upon since it weakens the clay. This matters if it is a cup that will have daily use, but since this is art, I decided to take the risk and work out the technical considerations later.
Here was my first try and this took about 7 applications of glaze and firings, it is about the element of FIRE:
Here is the next one about JOY and I used a ceramic pencil to make a mandala first and then applied layers to glaze one at a time over it. I think this one was 3-4 applications and firings.
This is one is called EFFLORESCENCE and is about the way that nature fills us up with wellness:
Eventually I started using it for things like the amazing colors in leaves:
And to create serene landscapes:
And RIVERLAND OF THE COSMOS is one of my favs:
and details show the way the glazes work to create a depth of color and texture:
One more about flying fully supported:
All of these pieces above are small - less than 10" in any dimension and often closer to 6".
I love what I can do with layering and have found it a wonderful tool for expression. I use it frequently in all kinds of pieces (see previous post “Spirit Owl” where I used in for the moody sky). I’m also pleased to say that my pieces are technically strong despite the many firings because I’ve learned what clay bodies can handle this.
Thanks for reading and looking, stay tuned for more in a few days!