Monday, October 27, 2008

Jam Factory Porcelain Workshop Summary











We had a great 11 Saturdays of learning, talking, eating and seeing other people's ideas come to fruition and seeing what porcelain can be. It can be a beautiful white translucent body in reduction firing, but it is a hard task master, harder to pull up to the height and thinness that I wanted my thrown pieces to be, and not forgiving any warping of the cast pots as they came out of the moulds. But for all that, it is a wonderful clay, seeing the blue painting on the little pots make a very ordinary shape come to life.
I would recommend the course to anyone wanting to have a feel for what porcelain is all about. Robin Best and her helpful staff bent over backwards to give each of us information and a chance to see what we could do during the time spent at the Jam Factory and allowed us to work during the week if we were able to. Thank you all.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Ignite Exhibition at St Ignatius college


It was a good opening with the curator Rod Taylor, opening the exhibition.
I had to buy this painting on opening night and it also was voted People's Choice during the weekend.

Opening night at Artistic License Gallery

Opening night at Artistic License Gallery 10 Oct

Fine Figures - Adelaide Matters Oct 2008

Judith Rolevink's delicate ceramic figures are quite a departure from the bold sculptures she usually works on.
However, cheeky and candid glimpses of children at play are still the focus of her work.
"They're still about children and the things they do - making friends, drawing, falling over," she says.
Judith's past exhibitions- at the Adelaide Centre for the ARTS, in the city, and at Art Images, Norwood - have featured gymnasts and dancers cast in bronze but this time she has drawn on her ceramics background to prepare work for a show at Artistic License, in North Adelaide.
She says the small pieces have provided great contrast, though no fewer challenges, to her major project for the year, preparing a life-size bronze sculpture of Mary MacKillop and two children for the Catholic Church. The sculpture, destined for Victoria Square, will be unveiled early next year.
In preparing her small fired clay figures, Judith has been experimenting with casein paint, a milk derivative that dries to a matt finish.
"I saw Judy Fox's (American ceramic sculptor) children sculptures and she uses the technique," she says. "Over time the paint becomes waterproof - it's intriguing." Judith goes to painstaking effort to ensure her figures look realistic and she says the paint helps enhance the work, providing skin tone and highlighting features and clothing.
While it is a way of adding something new to her work, Judith says it also reflects her current fascination with artists who use colour on ceramics.

Adelaide Matters – Arts Oct 2008


Humna Mustafa's work in collaboration with Phil Hart





Humna Mustafa's work with henna





Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Pottery is good for a change.

I have finished my last week at the Porcelain workshop at the Jam Factory and am working on painting some pots that I have made during the course, but haven't had the time to tackle. I bet I don't get them done in time to fire them at the Jam factory, so I will have to do them at home.
My daughter, granddaughters and I are going to Humna's Mustafa's place tonight to have a henna medallion done on our hands. Humna is a Henna artist who also does henna style designs on pots and they look great.
I will endeaver to photograph our hands tonight and post them on the blog. I have some photos of her work, so I will dig them out as well. She has just finished a joint exhibition with Phil Hart, at the Jam Factory.
I have also had some adds and an article in "Adelaide Matters" on the current show at Artistic Licenseand in the social page in the "Sunday Mail".
I also attended the opening of "Ignite" at St Ignatius College and saw a wonderful painting that I just could not resist, by Sally Parnis, named "Waiting for her Prince" so I bought it. None of my work sold, which was a pity but were major bronze pieces. It would have been great if they had sold, but Sally's work was voted People's Choice of the show and now I own it.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Ang at Art Show


Ang at the opening night of Artistis License.

It works now, I can't understand it at all

Well thank goodness for that.
I have several pieces in shows at the moment which I will list.

Artistic License Gallery.
10th October to 2nd November, 2008,
Group show,48 Melbourne Street, North Adelaide,SA

Sculpturing Norwood.
10 - 31 October 2008
The Parade, Norwood SA. Individual Invited Artists

Ignite
17 - 19th October, 2008
Saint Ignatius College,62 Queen Street, Norwood,SA. Individual Invited Artists,

Blog problems, Blogger hates me

I just can't seem to get this last piece posted about the foundry. What am I doing wrong!!!!! Do I hold my mouth the wrong way? I don't know, Its so frustrating!!!!!
I also can't add any other blogs to my site, apologies to those whom I said I would add their blogs. Well here I go again and see if I can get into my site this time with a blog

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

From the foundry, Mary MacKillop news

Last week I rang the foundry to see how things were progressing, they told me they had tacked together the pieces to find out what the dimensions would be for the plinth.
That being done they then untacked the pieces for thorough chasing (metalwork cleaning and repairs) of the individual pieces before they begin to assemble them permanently, by welding the pieces together and chasing the metal. So the pieces in the previous images were only temporary held together.
The foundry think they will finish by the end of the month, when I will need to then go to Melbourne for 3 days to supervise the patination (colouring) of the bronzes. This is a chemical layer of various oxides etc, that are brushed and stippled on the bronze while heating the surface to help adhere the chemicals to the surface. When the bronze's colours are deemed correct, the sculpture will then have a wax coating applied and polished o a final shine.
I will be so pleased to see the sculpture, as I last saw it as a series of waxes that are now cast as bronze.