Update "Elizabeth Murray"

As an update to my Elizabeth Murray post I thought it necessary to say this.  I recently went to the Virginia Museum of Fine Art (VMFA) with some professors and a friend and just happen to run across an Elizabeth Murray original!  Who knew?!  I was so excited that they had one in their collection I just had to stop and stare at it for a good 15 minutes before I could regain the ability to keep on moving.

-DJK

Phyllis Kudder Sullivan

Talk about technical skill!!!  Sullivan takes coils of stoneware and weaves them together to make these basket woven "vortices".  That's right, this is STONEWARE!!!  I am awed by the detail and effort that goes into theses pieces.  Her focus is on the void in the middle of the pieces, that dark empty, but energy rich center found in almost all of her pieces.

For my purposes I am inspired by her attention to detail, I really feel this makes a huge difference.  She could have just slapped together huge pieces with massive coils but it wouldn't have had near the same shock value.  I hope to focus on detail as well as she does for my pieces as well.

-DJK

Ruth Duckworth

Thanks for the suggestion Prof. Harris!!!

This is a cool chick!  She didn't start ceramics 'til she was 40 and continued to do her monumental murals and sculptures until she died at age 90!  Crazy!  I figured I couldn't sum up her work better than this NY Times article did so here's what it said..

"Her stoneware murals, notably “Earth, Water and Sky” (1967-68) and “Clouds Over Lake Michigan” (1976), incorporated topographical swirls and abstractly rendered cloud patterns. Her small works, by contrast, were often delicate and abstract, with surrealist overtones. The influences were varied. The stylized modernism of Henry Moore, Constantin Brancusi and Isamu Noguchi competed for attention with Egyptian, Mexican and Cycladic art."  (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/25/arts/25duckworth.html)


Her influences of surrealism and abstract forms are definitely something I want to strive for.  They carry a lot of emotion and energy that I hope to create as well.


-DJK

Jo Meesters

Jo Meesters is a Dutch ceramicist and designer that creates pottery based on organic, naturally occurring things.  The vases above are inspired by flower blooms and earth.  Other work he has done features natural textures and patterns.  His work expresses the natural flow that I would like to achieve.  I want to have natural, organic forms that represent my subconscious imagery, however mine will more than likely be more nonobjective, though not necessarily.

-DJK

Concept

Alright, my house FINALLY has internet as of today!!!  So as far as my concept goes it's still very loose but I'm leaning towards a sort of "zen ceramics" idea.  I would like to use subconscious imagery, colors, forms etc. to inspire my ceramic pieces.  Whether it be a smell, a taste, a dream, a meditative state, whatever, my pieces will be derived from the depths of my brain.

-DJK