These are my version of the slipcast flashlight. Mine are translucent and have lithophanes at the end. I carved the image in wax first then made a mold of the wax so I could cast porcelain in the mold. I think they turned out well. I learned more about the process from doing these, but I still have a ways to go if I want to continue making lithophanes. I'm still trying to figure out what would be the best thing to do with them, but I think I am slowly getting there.
I had thought about just making a lithophane that I could stick in a preexisting flashlight, but conceptually I liked having a flashlight made out of clay. Although this is not a new idea, I like the thought of making a functional object out of clay that isn't traditionally made with this material. Function is a very prominent area in ceramics, but it tends to be pottery, so I wanted to comment on function and its relation to ceramics and other materials. I feel the juxtaposition of the historical lithophane with the modern flashlight adds to the interest. Lithophanes were made long before we had battery operated flashlights, so they were never made to be lit by such a device. From researching lithophanes, I would image if there had been flashlights, they would have made lithophanes for them. There is also contrast between the machine manufactured flashlight and my hand carved lithophane. I think this creates an interesting discussion between the two elements of the piece.
So, I made some slipcast flashlights that have lithophanes for the lens. The concept, if I was going to continue making these, which I may not now, was to address issues of commodification. Well, I follow several blogs, one of which is The Slipcast Blog. Today, he posted... slipcast flashlights. Now, those of you who have had discussions with me about art and originality will know that I am really not surprised to see this. However, I do find the timing, since I just made mine, to be rather humorous. Anyway, here is the link to the post and here is an image of the flashlights. I guess you can buy these somewhere...
After the presentation we had in class today, I wanted to address Marcel Duchamp's Fountain. Because the presentation was about Deric's work, and not what constitutes art or the history of art, I felt that this would be the better venue to discuss this piece of art work. This piece was talked about in sort of a negative context towards it being labeled art and more so being heralded as one of the greatest pieces of art for all time. Based on other reactions and comments both today and in the past, I feel that many of the other students have a similar negative viewpoint of this work. I will admit that I also used to despise Fountain. For an undergrad art history class a couple years ago, we had to write an "art bias" paper. We had to write about three artists that we liked and three we disliked, and then our reasoning for those selections. But, then we had to write about why someone might like the artist that we didn't like. I found that to be a very enlightening experience, because I really had to think about what was going on with the work and what really made in successful in a different person's eyes.
It just so happens that Fountain was one of the pieces I disliked. In fact, I believe I made a statement that this was the worst piece of art of all time. Fortunately, during the class and discussions, I learned the significance of this truly monumental piece of art history. A quick background, Duchamp submitted this sculpture into a non-juried exhibition that was for an artists' club or society. All work that was submitted was to be shown, the only piece that was rejected was this one. He was making a statement against work that was in the exhibition, but also on the grander scale of the whole art world. "What is art?" This question and action led to a sequence of events in art history that brings us to the present. Over the decades, nearly anything can be considered art and exist in the fine art realm in some form or another, including ceramics.
I feel that sometimes we as ceramic artists, take for granted the fact that we can make ceramic artwork or pottery that can be shown in galleries, while at the same time discounting work such as Fountain. The truth is, if that work was never made, we wouldn't have been in a classroom today as a group of ceramic artists working towards MFA degrees. Without those questions, I believe it would be impossible for anyone to gain any recognition as a studio potter. Anyone who needs a functional pot can easily purchase what is needed at Walmart, Target, or any of the many retail stores. But people began to appreciate other forms of art other than just painting and sculpture, because of the chain reaction that was set off by Fountain. This could arguably be the best piece of ceramic art ever, because without its existence, there might not be ceramic art.
This weekend I fired some more of my translucent tiles. I wanted to push the temp a little higher. Unfortunately I lost most of my iron because of the fluxing of the materials. Additionally, the glaze residues left on the kiln shelf decided to fuse to my tiles despite putting down extra alumina, so most of that work is destroyed.
Just thought I would share this Range Rover commercial. I remember seeing this when I was younger, when I would have never dreamed that I would major in ceramics in college. I was reminded of it when we saw a Range Rover at NCECA. It's not an educational video, but I think it's funny!
Last week I attended the NCECA conference in Philadelphia. It was my first time at NCECA and it was a great experience. There were tons of exhibitions to check out and lectures to attend. I think I will make a few posts about the conference over the next few days, so today I will focus on the panel I attended that was titled "Fabricating Ideas." The four members of the panel were artists whose work I really admire. Chad Curtis spoke and served as moderator, and the members of the panel were Del Harrow, Jeanne Quinn, and Steven Thurston. It started off introducing the goals of their collective and describing the equipment and software that they were using to achieve their results. The three members of the panel then described the different ways they have used technology to create work. They all had very different approaches, but they were all using technology is some way.
I feel that when this topic is discussed, many people assume that this will be purely about using machines to create the work. What I found interesting, was that Del Harrow was directly addressing the issues of fabrication versus the makers hand. He creates his forms in Rhino (a CAD program) and then outputs the polygons that create the 3-D model to create a template that he then uses to construct his work by hand. I often find myself getting caught up in the idea of creating on the computer, and then wanting to have it constructed by a piece of equipment. I had never really thought about using the computer to show you how you could construct an object.
Jeanne Quinn described her process of putting drawings into Adobe Illustrator and outputting them to a CNC vinyl cutter to create the components of her wall based installation. I don't remember if the installation involved any ceramic material, but again I find it interesting that technology could be used in other materials that may not need such expensive and technical equipment to operate.
Finally, Steven Thurston talked about his residency in Dresden and using the Mops porcelain dog. He talked about the technology that I am really interested in and that is rapid prototyping. He explained some of the processes such as using the 3-D scanner to capture the model of these old porcelains that could then be manipulated to account for shrinkage rates in clay or to completely change the piece. They then use a Zcorp printer to print the prototype using a plaster powder system, and pull the mold from that. Again, I don't necessarily view this as a "hands off" approach to making. You still have to make the mold and assemble the pieces. Then you have to glaze and fire, just like any other piece. These are tools to use in the process of creating work based on your ideas.
Unfortunately, I never made it to the exhibition they had in the Crane Arts building. They do have a blog that you can visit, although it doesn't seem to have been updated too frequently lately. Nevertheless, they have many great links if you are interested in exploring the use of technology in art, as well as links to the websites of all the artists who are a member of the collective. The url is http://www.fabricatingideas.com/
