Working hard ... What another jam-packed week we've had at Earth Fire Spirit! Firstly we officially started our Honours year at Uni and it was a little overwhelming to begin with, although I think we've managed to get our heads around at least some of it! We packed and unpacked and re-packed kilns and , of course, kept creating more & more new work. Location, Location, Location In between all this we decided to take a day to photograph some of our work. We spent half a day in the studio taking studio shots and then we ventured outdoors... Shelly Beach at Ballina provided the ideal setting for the look we were going for and even though the weather wasn't the greatest it didn't deter us. Armed with boxes full of wares and camera gear slung over the shoulder we headed down to the water to take photos. A bemused man walking his dog stopped to watch the proceedings. I'm sure he thought we were crazy as we squated in the water waiting for the waves to come in - and yes I did get a wet bum! Studio Incantations The studio images also turned out fantastically and we were very happy with the results from this photo session too. We took some photos in our photography studio and others inside the gallery at Studio One29. Pictured right is a piece we collaborated on together last year and was exhibited in the Northern Rivers Community Gallery. It is a merging of our two art practices and this sparked the concept of a whole new collaboration project we have dreamed up. I will reveal more about this project in a future blog post ... stay tuned for that one, as it's very exciting - and could even involve some audience participation! Material Matters Last week my donated materials arrived for my Flatpack Habitat project. Thanks so much to RCR International for your generosity and willingness to work with me on this project. Working with Big Business is very exciting and hopefully we can form an ongoing relationship (My head is full of more ideas!). I started to assemble some of the pieces, as I just couldn't wait to get started, but quickly realised that some adjustments need to be considered. Not least of which will be the actual location where this piece will be ultimately exhibited, due to it's size and the size restraints of the exhibition space. The joys of being a 3D artist! Big Things ahead... So...another big week ahead of Art and creating, research and learning. It's always a journey, but a wonderful one! More and more opportunities on our horizon. If you're interested in ceramics check out the other studios on Sunday Ceramics Until next time... keep creating - or just go surfing!
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Kiln Packed This week we packed the kiln with our first round of offerings, which is always an exciting process - it's just the bisque but still makes you feel good! I love the anticipation of waiting for the firing process to end and then opening the kiln again to see what treasures await. The bisque firing offers all the promise of what will happen and then deciding how the pieces will be glazed or finished - love it! Dish it out We have now graduated from spoons to little dishes (although continue to make spoons as well) Pictured above are some of the first lot of these dishes. They are fun to make and look great with the imprints. They just look like squares of clay but they are shaped to form small dishes or plates. Little Landscapes I have also been experimenting with creating some miniature landscapes (one of these is pictured right). These were also a load of fun and we will most definitely make some more of these. This one I'm calling Up Mallanganee Hill. It's a very steep hill and anyone who's towed anything up it will relate! Our previous vehicle really used to struggle and it was almost impossible to tow a caravan up there, luckily our current vehicle climbs the hill with ease! Impressing Country One thing about this process of responding to place is that we have a great excuse to go out exploring the region. This week we decided to go bushwalking in Bundjalung National Park and went on the Wedding Tree walk by the banks of the Evans River at the Evan's Head end of the park. This is of great significance to the Bundjalung People as it is the site of the first camp made by the 3 brothers who first arrived at the beach by canoe. The Wedding Tree is a kurrajong tree and was a wedding gift from the Wahlubal tribe from Tabulam. It's such a peaceful place and full of wildlife too - we really enjoyed our time there, although the little one was complaining about having sore legs! "Bushwalking is really, really hard" he says, and wanted to be carried back. I look forward to our next exciting adventure, all in the name of Art! And if you're interested don't forget to check out the other ceramic studios posted on Sunday Ceramics. Until next time.... keep creating! Nature's imprint This week we have been busy creating lots of new ceramic works and doing loads of experiments, mostly about making impressions. Taking inspiration from nature we first went fossicking in forests and combing beaches to find interesting objects to use in this process. Pictured left are some bowls Cass made from impressions off a coconut found washed up on Shelly Beach. This is such a fun process and we have used numerous things like driftwood, bark, banksias, stones, petrified wood, shells, leaves, seed pods, etc and you can see more of the initial results in the pictures below. (Click on the image to see the larger version.) The Art of Spooning... We have also been busy making spoons - many, many spoons! We have experimented with turning some of our impressions into spoons with some great initial results. These are yet to be fired but we are hooked! they are rather addictive to make for some reason and I in particular am having a great time creating these. Fellow ceramicist Kim Foale from frogpondsrock and host of Sunday Ceramics also knows the strange spoon making addiction and she and I are doing a swap - I am very excited and can't wait to receive Kim's spoon. Pictured right are just some of the latest batch - using the matchbox as size reference, and that is the great piece of petrified wood on the left - the spoon in the bottom righthand corner is the one our son made - getting the whole family involved! Not only nature... After our initial imprints using natural objects and surfaces we also decided to make imprints of other things such as road surfaces, fabric, metal, plastics, even my son's matchbox cars! Once they are glazed and fired we will post some images of the results - can't wait! This is such a great process and one we are continuing to develop and weave into our art practice - with some awesome projects based on this on the horizon ... stay tuned! Well, it's been a big week of creating, with an even bigger one coming up, and check out Sunday Ceramics if you are interested to see what other ceramic artists are doing in their studios... .... so now I'm off to make some more spoons! Happy Lunar New Year!!! Well, can you believe that we are already into month 2 of the new year! Actually Cass and I always have preferred to celebrate the Chinese New Year and that means we are only day 2 into it! This is now the Year of the Horse = something that Cass is especially happy with, as she is also a horse - it promises to be a good one for all of us! 100 Artworks We are still working on making artworks for our 'Trading Place' installation. It is envisaged that we will create 100 pieces between us! Some of these will be individual works while some will be collaborative pieces - all of them will be about 'place' - our connection to it - our response to it - our relationship with it. Actually we will probably make more than 100 pieces and chose the best 100 out of them - that's about 2 per week each to get them created in time - so be prepared for weekly updates on our progess! Get Crackin' To that end I sat back and thought about all the native plants and animals that I believe are the most significant to me on this property. It was a long list! Bottle brush most definitely, as it grows along the creek - wattles everywhere, spotted gum and river she-oaks... and grass trees - grass trees everywhere. Wallabies are the first animals that I think of - there's an abundance of them, then possums, bandicoots, bettongs, kookaburras, black cockatoos, and the little finches that always make me smile and think of my Dad. There's a resident goanna - well a few actually - and the red belly black snakes... and the owls I hear at night... then there's the frog chorus... the wonga pigeons... I said it was a long list! This is a drawing of Kookaburras that I will turn into a print - maybe on ceramic?...maybe on card & framed?... we shall see... I also attempted to draw some of the other things on my list - some with great success - some major failure - but all good fun! Corporate Generosity In other news, I have had some success in securing some corporate sponsorship for my project titled 'Flatpack Habitat'. Just when I thought that big business didn't care anymore about anything but the bottom line - this restores your faith somewhat! I am very excited about this project and can't wait to get started on this and I must give major thanks to Gary at RCR International Pty Ltd - There will be more details about this project in future blog posts, including a link to their website - so stay tuned... Needless to say that it is great to team up with up with big business on an art project and an extremely exciting, and one that I believe will prove to be hugely rewarding, opportunity. Let's hope it's the first of many more to come! So, I'm off now to create some more.... And don't forget to Read the other 'Sunday Ceramics' blogs here... |
Clare UrquhartOne half of the Earth Fire Spirit Team, I have an obsession with transport & homes including caravans, mobile homes, temporary dwellings, etc ... and a passion for all Art! Archives
October 2015
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