Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Looking back



I must say thank you to a couple of sawdust makers one up in upstate New York, My friend Tim who supplied me with the walnut for this base, and two: Don up in Washington, who just seemed to know what piece of maple would sit so nicely on top. You can find their links in my links section over to the right of this page.

Monday, January 28, 2008

Work in progress




Still figuring out the bases for a bunch  of sculptures, received two big boxes of wood from the "Old man from the Mountain" at www.ucrwood.net , and here's a look at a sculpture in progress.












Saturday, January 26, 2008

Pots in Progress

Here's a look at some pots I've been throwing and adding some sculpture to. I love putting legs on the pots and giving them some character. I guess working in animation for so many years has given me a desire to see things move or at least look as if they could move.

Work in progress

This piece in progress shows two little helpful things I've learned to aid in sculpting. First is the support system. The figure is hollow and the clay is wet and heavy. The large clump of clay attached to the side of the figure aids in giving stability since the wall of the figure is too thin to give much support, especially in this wet state. I'll just carve it off when the figure is almost complete and can support itself. Some people use newspaper inside the figure, and let it burn out in the firing, I prefer working this way for a number of reasons. The second simple thing is to use a piece of canvas under the sculpture. This way the clay doesn't stick to the board. I've tried sand which works well, but then you have sand imbedded in the clay in the bottom of your sculpture, and when you work on a wood base it warps, and warps your sculpture along with it.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Shoes

These are my shoes. There's just something about a good old beaten up pair of shoes. I don't know how much time they have left, but know I will miss them when they're gone. I like the image that they conjure up in my mind. The image of a hard working craftsman who's priorities are obviously focused on work instead of being in style. Or of a crazy slightly off artist, who's work he is constantly at odds with, and takes to drinking absinth at night in order to find some relief, or maybe aid in finding some answers.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

In Progress



Here's a look at what I've been up to lately. I've been putting together the bases for my figurative series of sculptures. I'm currently waiting on a bunch of wood I've purchase from a great guy up in Washington state to finish up the rest of the bases, here's a link to his website www.ucrwood.net
Even if you're not in the market for wood, it's a great site to visit. And here you can see my assistant dunkin taking a nap, after a hard day of throwing pots.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Onward and Upward!


After wrestling with my old, drafty, jalopy of a kiln long enough, I've decided to get a new one! Well almost new, my thanks goes out to Tony in Ormond Beach, for selling me a close to new kiln for such a good price. It was a pleasure doing business with him. Ebay is a good thing! Now I just have to run some power over to it's new home. Oh, and ironically enough both of the kilns I have are Duncan kilns, and my hairy pal in the picture, his name is Dunkin, (like the doughnuts though). Weird!

Friday, January 4, 2008

30 sculptures in 60 days

When your working for yourself, I think it helps to set goals and deadlines. Otherwise you can spend too much time tinkering when you should be finishing up, and moving on to your next idea. That's what I did here, a challenge to myself to complete 30 sculptures in 60 days. I recommend it to everyone, I learned a great deal along the way, and got some pretty good work done. You can see them completed on my website at New Works.

Thursday, January 3, 2008

A heavy Weight

Here's a progression from wet clay, to glazed, and then after the final firing. This piece is called a heavy weight. I like that the piece and the title suggests many things to me. The dark color I chose for the glaze seems appropriate also. I think I've written more about this piece on my website if your interested.  A Heavy Weight

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Beacon of Hope



I've talked about this one on my website. I blew her head off in the bisque fire and then was able to mend her back together with some paper clay. And sure enough the Kiln Gods were merciful and let her live. As you can see she bears her scars, but that's the wonders of this medium, it just makes her more beautiful to me.You can see her here
Beacon of Hope

More pics



Waiting















My Hart





When I first started sculpting I wasn't able to get that spark of a soul into my figures that I admired so many other artist for. In this last series I think I found away to suggest that these things I was sculpting, were more than just the clay I was sculpting them in.
My Hart

Looking back


A couple close ups of a sculpture called "Looking Back", when something feels right it often is and just the opposite holds true. This is one of those times when I was working on a piece and everything just came together. I was really pleased with the emotion and the physical pose that came out on this one, and I was very pleased when I opened the kiln to see the glaze turned out how I had planned. It felt right, at least right for the story I was telling. Looking Back

Kiss the Donkey


This is from a sculpture called kiss the donkey, you can see it on my website. I've always loved patterns in art , Gustav Klimt is one of my favorite artist because of the way he would work with both the figure and beautiful patterns.
Kiss the Donkey

Sculpture Station




Ok, later I'll take a moment and show off my sculpting desk a little. It's kind of neat I constructed my turn table top and bolted it on to an old drafting desk base, that has a spring loaded foot petal that allows it to move up and down.
More Studio Pictures

Starting Now


Ok, just to start this thing up without over thinking it to much, I'll just throw up some pictures of some of the recent work I'm in the process of finishing, and a few shots of my studio. I must say I love playing on the computer too so I'll probably tinker around in photoshop and just have some fun. JohnPierro.com