Last spring, I finished a few pieces in my ongoing sculpture series. It seems appropriate to post photos in the appropriate order.

First were a pair of fat persons that survived the winter – I lost a bunch of pieces to cracks. In retrospect I’m glad, because I didn’t really need seven of these. But I’m glad for two.

FCSI fired in early April in a wood-fueled salt kiln, set on stands, with frit piled on top of the pieces. The drip lines are really dramatic. Initially I didn’t like them at all, and I’m still not sure they suit my intention for the pieces. But they do have the distinction of having a very different sort of surface – different from my usual work, and different from the usual ceramic surfaces. I had a lot of fun shooting this pair. The piece above is my final selection, but at the bottom I’ll put up a few more that sparked my imagination.

FCSI fired sometime-in-the-spring in Lillstreet’s soda kiln. I like the slumpiness of these pieces.

The quality of the line has been a subject of ongoing exploration. The combination of line and profile and the visual effect achieved. The range from cinched-in tension to loose slumpiness. (Which makes me think – until now, each piece has had one quality of line throughout. I should see what happens if I use a greater range in one piece.)

As these pieces were finished, I had made fifty pieces dealing with this idea.

After the break, discussion on the other shots that were contenders.

These two facing each other is pretty funny, but the ‘front’ of the left piece is facing the camera, though the other ‘front’ created by the dripping frit faces toward the right. Something’s out of balance.

Having the pieces adjacent visually helps, but the front-front problem remains.

This makes me laugh: two guys look like they are blaming each other for the kiln catastrophe (that’s why they are cross, in my imaginative narrative) that resulted in being plowed with stuff. The righthand piece is well-positioned to avoid the front-front issue, though.

Here they look at each other, bewildered. The space between seems to be the thing that gives the pieces a visual relationship, in the sense of there being a conversation happening between individual pieces.

This is a pretty good composition, in terms of the other problems, but I don’t like how it emphasizes the one piece by giving it such a large proportion of the frame.

And that’s why I picked this one: it works.