A video post! While at the beach, I also shot a bunch of videos of sailing pods. Here’s my favorite. The rest are included below the fold for your viewing pleasure. There is sound; mostly it sounds like wind; ’twas a blustery day. Sometimes an airplane flies over. Sometimes pods get stuck, sometimes they accelerate, sometimes they change direction, sometimes you see the gusts on the pond surface, sometimes a seagull walks through the shot. It’s an exercise in subtlety. Unfortunately, you cannot hear the sound of the wind in the pods. However, you can hear them bump together: check out Sailing Pods 2.

Sailing pods 6: Woodfired ceramic pods are blown across a beachpond at Montrose Beach, Chicago. ~4pm 6 Oct 2009. Cloud cover variable, winds WSW 20 G 26 at WHRI2.

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A few images from my trip to Montrose Beach, 6 October 2009. A beautiful cool day, about 55 degrees and blowing about 20 kts. I’d brought some pods, thinking maybe I’d find someplace to shoot them. Little did I expect that to send them sailing. It was ridiculous fun.

Arrival. The sight that greeted me. The clouds blowing through were spectacular.

Beachpond. Large portions of the beach are flooded following days of rain.

Adrift. I like that the end of the pond is out of sight. They may be going on a journey.

Windblown ripples detract from this image, one of several with similar compositions. I think the effect worth noting because the next image has them in still water just a minute later. I think it’s partly the texture of the water and partly the better contrast between the lighter reflected sky and the more darkly colored pods.

Aground.

Afternoon. The sun at this hour makes shooting fun. Many shots experimented with this group of run-aground pods. This is my favorite. Yes, it has ripples. Given my previous commentary, I wanted to figure out why the shot still works for me, and better than a similar one with still water. The ripples are visible as light and dark bands on the pond floor; they give order to the visually-cluttered pond floor. Also, the light is strong, the shadows sharp, the camera better-focused.

Restraint. The wind was fierce; a piece of wood held my flotilla back until the camera was ready.

Ripple. Cropping was a challenge and worked best when the image is only peripherally about the pods.

Meniscus. The wind wasn’t always fierce; the beach is sheltered by a ridge and the trees inhabiting it.

Photographer.

Bands. The eastern sky; the end of the day.

Revelation over a beautiful sushi meal at Tokyo Marina, while meditating on my work and reading Robert Turner:

My aim was to make pieces with a presence far beyond their size: “that don’t just sit, over there, on a table, not bothering anybody …. that demand to be dealt with, that confront the viewer …. with which one has a physical relationship …. to which one has a visceral reaction. “

Sheer scale came to mind. And that evolved into exploring the space between the pieces – I think that evolution was concurrent with photographing the first ones, the green trio, in the spring. And now that concept has evolved into something even more architectural, playing the forms against each other, against their context. Which is a whole other animal.

Scale may or may not accomplish my aim. It occurred to me, as I learned that Turner’s pots were fairly small, that presence isn’t dependent upon scale. I had strayed from my original argument and didn’t realize it; now I do.

I was dining alone. To be more complete, the meditation was in considering a seeming conflict between the current direction of my work (sculpture, big, and not necessarily clay) and my interest in clay (loving the physicality and tactility of it, as well as my desire to have technical – fabrication, material, process – mastery of it), in light of my intention to apply to grad schools this winter. And I had taken along my book on Turner and his work, was reading it while I ate.

So now I am understanding it as a different critter: two bodies of work stemming from one formal idea. And I have some ideas on what pieces to make next.

Just a few images of work fired at Waubonsee Community College woodfire workshop, which ran October 18-25 (fired Oct 19-24) and was led by Simon Levin. Simon Levin and Bede Clarke were demonstrators. Organized by Doug Jeppesen at Waubonsee Community College. The unload was this past Friday, and I took everything out of the car and put it up on my shelves today. More soon, but until then, enjoy these:

Disoriented excerpt.

Pods.

Groggy.

Fireclay flashing.

Grindingstone.

Clay landscape.