Enamel Layering: 3 D Color on 3 D Form
It is my great honor to be chosen to be a
presenter at the 2020 Yuma Symposium.
I have been working in my medium since
1972. Along the way I have developed a unique composite of enameling
techniques based on the contemporary work of the late Fred Ball and the
teaching of the late Bill Helwig.
Sgraffito through liquid white from Fred Ball’s Experimental Techniques in Enameling
I work mainly on formed copper. Most of
the vessel shapes are cut and then rejoined with woven copper wire, copper
rivets, and copper tubing.
sewing a copper bowl
I call these "destructed"
vessels Burnt Offerings because
they not only represent my homage to the medium and the power of heat and fire,
but also they challenge me to heal what has been destroyed and hopefully make
it more beautiful. As I began making my vessels several years ago I was not
conscious of the Japanese ceramic tradition of Kintsugi which is about healing
broken vessels. In time I began to see my vessels as representing my attempt to
make a broken world whole again, much like the Jewish concept of Tikkun Olam.
Kintsugi vessels
The vessel form, which is dimensional, has
taught me to look at my enameling as narration much as historically vessels
have contained some form of narration.
Keith Haring ceramic vessel
The fact that my enamel narration is
frequently on both sides of my vessels has created the challenge of finding
balance and harmony between the enamel and the form. It is always exciting when
I succeed.
I work in thin layers of enamel in which I try
to evoke the looseness of painting on canvas. I see the layers as creating 3-D
color which reflects and refracts light through and off of the various layers
and the copper. Light, optics and dimensionality are everything to me.
Ball Study 3
Hermioni 3
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