Botany Pots - Proposal for Changchun Ceramics Symposium 2011

Concept pots for 2011 Changchun Ceramics Symposium:Proposal 1

The theme behind these pots is "My Botany Diary". I would collect flora and fauna from Changchun and imprint them onto the surface of the pots to record the journey of my discovery of Jilin Province, China.

Below are examples of what the pots would look like. These are pictures of unfinished pots - not yet glazed or fired. All pots are 500mm high x 300mm diameter.

I would like to fire to stoneware temperatures using slips and celadon glaze to decorate the surface. I would also like to experiment with a larger pot of about 800mm high x 400mm.

Pot 1

Pot 2

Pot 3

Pot 4

3 Pots Together

Days Flying By.....Clay goes on

This is the time consuming bit. Sam really working hard now but the sculpture is finally starting to take shape

Hinaki Starts to Take Shape

After much deliberation and strong "debate" about how to proceed Sam's sculpture Hinaki is finally starting to come together. His design concept is one of the more technically challenging much to the delight of Chou his assistant who is totally up for a challenge. No better time to try something new than when you have a sculpture teacher, 50 artists, 4 assistants and no bill to foot eh?

The frame or skeleton of the sculpture, welded in steel

Marking out Eel length piecies of steel to be cut

Bending the steel into the basic shape of an eel

The eel shapes being welded onto the Frame

Winding on chicken wire to steel to hold the clay

Starting to take shape....

Putting the two halves together for the 1st time and deliberating with the Dream Team on how it looks. Oops....some of the eels are going the wrong way. We have since taken a day to take them off and redo and its now looking tip top

A close up