Penland Spring Concentration 2010: Week in Review

Well the first week at Penland has been remarkable. Everyone is encouraging and supportive and motivated in myriad ways. I had a lot of work to do last Saturday prepping the studio for class, but the other studio assistants for the clay classes are exceptional to work with.  The clay coordinator, Susan Feagin, is an incredibly excited person to be around. She has such a wonderful energy about her that even a mundane studio safety talk takes on a humorous tone.

We dove right in with a demo late Sunday night to kick off the class. Tom Spleth spoke very forthright about his life experiences while demonstrating, instantly gaining the students’ trust through his transparency. The next day we sat around as a class and discussed the objects that he asked us to bring to class. These objects were meant to reflect an aspect of our work while not being the work itself. My object is a golf ball covered in barnacles since a lot of my work is concerned with the relation of man-made objects with nature. One of the reasons I signed on for mold making and slip cast is that I want to further explore the relationship of industry and the natural world. Tom used the object discussion to get a feel for each student’s aim and quickly was able to guide us towards very different projects. I am eager to see the wide range of work at the end of the session.

I began with a series of plaster models. Using Tom’s technique of pouring a puddle of plaster onto the floor, I troweled the forms up while the plaster was still in an additive phase. Eventually the plaster will no longer adhere to itself at which point I began the subtractive phase using scrapers and rasps. This was a good exercise to familiarize myself with plaster as a new material. I may return to these forms and refine them but for now I have moved onto something much more complex.

My second series consists of ten models that I also trowel formed. The big difference here being that I have abandoned the subtractive phase. The most difficult part of this series is knowing when to stop. The model above to the right is overworked in my opinion, removing the life of the material on the back portion. Tom said not to throw anything out yet and I may go back to refine the overworked molds by carving in clean geometric shapes to give the piece a strong point of contrast.

This is a pic of where I have been working on the floor. So far I have used 200 lbs of dry plaster to create the two series of work. The process is really athletic as you work with a material that is time sensitive and extremely dynamic. Tom works on the floor so that he can move around the piece better and also because of his love for watching contemporary dance, specifically the American Dance Festival in Durham which I attended for the first time this past year. He sees similarities in contemporary dance and his process because of the relation of the artist to the floor. As I progressed with my series I kept that in mind, working each piece with a specific rhythm and set of motions. I also focused on the relation of the tool to the hand and began working with two different trowels at once for the last few models. I am really happy with the process and some of my results thus far. The forms are a stark contrast to my past work, very sensuous in comparison to my Tower series.

Above is a pic of my set up for my very first mold piece. You may notice there are no cottles. Tom is teaching us to make molds in a similar fashion to the way he makes forms, troweling and shaping the plaster as it sets. It is truly amazing that in one week’s time he has helped to eliminate all of my anxieties surrounding plaster as a material. To be perfectly honest, blocking the clay up around this form felt dirty after being so immersed with silky smooth plaster.

So my first mold piece was successful. I did fail to trim the plaster back to my blocking clay so I had some extra refinement to do once I removed the mold, but I managed to correct it in my brief studio time Saturday night. Judging by the complexity of my model, I still have 5-9 more molds to make in order to transform this shape into a clay object.

Yesterday I took Saturday off of studio to go help Michael Kline glaze and wad pots for his firing. Poor fella was up until 5 am decorating pots but he was up and ready for me at 9 am. I jokingly told him that he decorates about like David Stuempfle and I wood-fire. It was a beautiful day to work outdoors and Michael was kind enough to show me some superb glazing techniques. I’ve been making atmospheric wood-fired pots since 2003 and truthfully, this was my first time really glazing pots other than the half-hazard dunking that all beginning potters fall prey to. EnergyXchange residents Micah Cain and Lindsay Rogers both popped by with a few pots and to lend a hand. Also, kudos to Michael Kline for his excellent taste in music. Its good to see someone his age reading Pitchfork and embracing new tech such as Twitter. I certainly hope that I can stay as up to date as I mature.

Here is a shot of the instructor gallery. I’m looking forward to dropping in other studios’ demos, particularly the print class with Phil Sanders and Cristina Cordova’s figure sculpture class in upper clay. I’ve also been talking to some of the glass students about making a blow mold of my piece so that I could potentially tap into my first experience with glass sculpture.

Finally, a few loose but critical ends. I had the opportunity to give the first slide talk of concentration last Tuesday before Tom did his slide talk/ surprise demo. I am still being flattered on a daily basis by students, instructors, and residents who were impressed by my work, which is very encouraging. Also, I was notified this past week that I am the recipient of the Collins, Evans, Massey Scholarship for Summer Session 1 with Paul Wandless and Kathy King. It is a special work-study scholarship, which means I’ll have a work-study position in exchange for full tuition, room, and board. While I’ve been entirely focused on form thus far, I need to jar the image portion of my mind and start thinking of what I want to say and how to incorporate the images into a new body of work.

Congratulations on making it to the  end of my longest blog post yet. I am not on the internet daily which is a huge shift for me but a welcome change. Still, be sure to check my twitter @TimAyersUS for daily pics of delicious meals from the Pines. I feel so spoiled by the food that I am compelled to share these pics with you. For shits and giggles I’m also trying to eat beets at least once if not twice a day. Believe it or not, I left a lot out of this post including some videos I am taking of demos and of me working that are just too large for me to worry with right now. I’ll try to post again soon, but I may try to just do these week in review posts so that I can concentrate on what I am working on and use the blog as a sort of journal to reflect on each week. Thanks for reading!