This olla is one of the first I've ever done. I was inspired to make these after going to a Michael Wisner workshop and getting the opportunity to learn from him. It has been burnished to get a resulting shine. Michael's pots are so amazing because his patterns are very close to perfection. I myself would like to achieve that. As of now, while I pattern my pot, I seem to lose it toward completion. So I will make more as practice until I get my patterns close to or as good as Michael's.
"Contemporary Bindings" is inspired by an online image of a Japanese shoe. The construction of the shoe itself implies that pain is a little price to pay for fashion in the modern world. The title, Contemporary Bindings, implies the same thing but also has a historic background. "Bindings" come from when back in the old days, girls used to bind their feet for fashion. Thus, the title, "Contemporary Bindings," implies the same thing, but in a modern perspective. This is the first shoe I have ever made. It is sculpted in porcelain and is dry brushed red. The shinny-clear layer is sprayed on from a can. The success of this shoe is a jump start to sculpting more shoes.
"Life Goes On but Winter Stays" is the first human scupture I've ever done and my favorite one so far. The texture of the piece is not visible in these pictures, but the sprayed on Val Cushing Stain White glaze (accidentally fired to an unknown low temperature) produced a very unique and extraordinary rough-bumpy surface that looks very much like "winter frost." My work began with inspiration from the renown sculptor, Phillippe Faraut, and will now continue with a newly developed penchant to find my own voice and style of sculpting with Faraut's work as a guide down my high school sojourn in the ceramic world.
