Preperations

I started throwing my bowls this week. I have 4 made so far. At least 6 more to go. I decided to start experimenting with different rim shapes and came up with this one. It is my favorite so far because it doesn't just look like a normal bowl. Something that I want to pay more attention to is to make my pottery more interesting and show my choices in the way that I shape them.
I also started work on my installation show in March. I began making egg molds on Saturday. After one failed attempt (eggs forever enclosed in plaster) I finished my mold tonight. I'm excited to make some porcelain eggs that will be spilling out of a bowl hung from over head. 

Time and Pottery

I have been doing some reading on whether or not time actually slows down in a crisis. I read about an experiment in which scientists had the test subjects fall backwards off of a 45 meter high platform. After reviewing the results this group of scientists concluded that in an emergency we have richer and more detailed memories of the event, making it seem much longer. They compare this to children remembering their summers as longer than an older person who records memories of the same amount of time. As we grow older we remember less because commonplace events are no longer memorable for us. 
I've been working on my throwing. I feel pretty out of practice since I haven't been in ceramics class since June. The top photo is of my favorite mug so far. I have now made 11 cups/mugs. I started out making the little bowl forms on the bottom but realized quickly I needed to start back at the beginning and get some practice in.
I'm going to need a lot of pottery if I'm going to be smashing some of it. I am pretty sure I am going to add a video to my installation in March. Since what I am trying to show is that I believe time is perceptual, meaning that it may change based on circumstance, I want to film the smashing of my pottery. I am planning on filming them at regular speed and then slowing the video down at the moment right before they hit the ground and then returning it to regular speed mid-way through the breaking.
I plan on casting eggs this week as well. I want to have a few dozen made from porcelain that will be spilling out of a large bowl.

Ideas for my ceramic project.

     I want to continue learning how to throw on the wheel but I have been giving some thought to the conceptual side of my ceramics pieces.
     I did a drawing series over the summer about time. I was reading about Kant and Einstein's theories of time. The drawing series was about three different theories of time. Time as perceptual, time as universal and time as relative to speed.
     The moment that I was thinking about was the moment before death. Twice in my life I experienced believing that I was going to die. Once slowly, due to an illness and once quickly, in a car accident. That moment has always intrigued me but not in the cheesy "life flashes before your eyes" way because that doesn't happen.
     The way that I want to make this work together is to sculpt liquid pouring out of the cups that I throw which is why I shot this photo as a reference. Also I want to break some of these glasses and suspend them in lucite.
     Brian showed me the work of German photographer Martin Klimas. I would like to suspend the broken pottery in the way that it began to break in and not just put it back together.

Anthony's Arm

Trying to paint a tattoo is one of the hardest things I think that I've ever attempted. To make it look like it is part of the arm and not just floating in front of it is difficult. For awhile it looked like I had ran up to someone's painting of an arm and painted on top of it. I'm glad that we did this in class because I learned a lot from it.

Esta muchacha esta pintada...

     I have continued to work with Spanish literature to further discover my interest in interpretation. As I continue to learn a second language I recognize changes in myself. I feel that I think more deeply as I sometimes have thoughts in two languages simultaneously. I also continue to learn about other cultures, which is something I did not expect to become so interested in. I am submersing myself in this research on many different levels. I still have a long way to go and I am nowhere near fluent but I am enjoying the journey to that goal. 

     Through my research I found this poem. I immediately pictured the girl in the poem and imagined her struggle to escape. She has been given the gift of flight in her existence on a sheet of thin paper.  I tied the fragile piece of paper to a frame of driftwood branches. She has been grounded to Earth but movement still exists as the paper catches drifts of wind and attempts to escape. I love that I had a hard time tying the paper down and in the wind it did almost fly away. Just like the girl in the poem it resisted my attempts to tie it down. 

LOURDES

Esta muchacha esta pintada
en un papel de arroz que es transparente
a la luz; ella vuela en su papel
al aire... Vuela con las hojas secas
y con los suspires perdidos.
Es la muchacha de papel y fuga;
es la leve, la ingrávida
muchacha de papel iluminado,
la de colores de agua...
La que nadie se atrevería
a besar por el miedo de borrarla...

This girl painted

on rice paper transparent

to the light: She flies on her paper

to the air… Flies with the dry leaves

and with the lost sighs.

She is the girl of paper and escape;

she is the light, weightless

girl of illuminated paper,

the colors of water…

That no one would dare

to kiss for fear of erasing.

Motociclista

First off, sorry, this photo needs to be edited. It is actually in a diamond shape orientation when it is displayed correctly I plan on fixing this tonight. This is another painting I did of a Julio Cortazar story. In La Noche Boca Arriba (The Night Face Up) a man has a motorcycle accident and is taken to the hospital. As he begins to slip in and out of consciousness he begins to dream that he is being hunted by the Aztecs who have turned his tribe into sacrifices to the gods. He becomes more an more aware that this dream might actually be reality. When he is conscious in the hospital he tries desperately one more time to stay awake and avoid his fate by reaching for his water glass next to his bed but his hand falls limp and he meets his fate. Throughout the whole story and even after it has ended I never decided which one was the real life of the main character, although I do hope he wasn't sacrificed! There is a second one (depicting the alternate reality) of this one to come this week!!

Linen Falls

This is a charcoal study I did of fabric hanging on the wall for drawing class. I like how creepy it looks and I can't quite decide if it reminds me of rigid water or bat wings.