CREATING A

VESSEL CLASS:
WHAT AN ARTFUL, FUN AFTERNOON.

On Saturday at the Museum of Contemporary Craft, I taught a class called, ‘Create a Sculptural Vessel’ through Portland Community College. I arrived with all the supplies, set up the room to allow for a flow of function and creativity and hoped that the students would be ready for a hands-on, free-flowing, art-making experience.

These great women eagerly dove into the experience. They cut the copper or aluminum screening into pieces. Then they started to play with metal. Bending. Pushing. Folding and rolling. And soon, chatting away as they worked, sculpted vessels began to appear. Moving on to the paint, metal leaf and beads each student/artist added to their vessel making it their own unique piece of sculpture.

Of course, during the creation process there are those times of indecision. Resistance. And fear. What should I do next? Will I make a mistake? How will it turn out?

I was there to help the process in any way I could. Explain or demonstrate a technique. Show an example for the three vessels I brought. Ask a question. Offer a suggestion. Or encourage exploration for inspiration.

We were lucky to have inspiration just steps away inside the Museum of Contemporary Craft. There are two ongoing exhibits, ‘Manufactured, The Conspicuous Transformation of Everyday Objects’ and ‘Ceramics of Gertrud and Otto Natzler’. As well as a Community Showcase featuring a beautiful display of unique contemporary and traditional baskets from the Columbia Basketry Guild. Plus there were two artists from the Columbia Basketry Guild doing a demonstration right next to our classroom.

All of these explorations helped to inspire us all as we took in the textures, colors and forms on display around us to push, pull and create more from the sculptural vessels.

I saw a wonderful transformation take place as the women took screening and created truly beautiful, unique sculptures. Some of them seemed a little mystified about how and where the forms came from, but isn’t that the wonder, mystery and fun of creation?

PLAYING WITH CLAY

AND MAKING MASKS

AT SUMMER ART CAMP

I never went to camp as a kid, but last week, I got the chance to have some fun at a camp here in Portland. I was a guest artist at the Museum of Contemporary Craft's School's Out, Art's In summer camp for children.

What better way to spend a summer's day than playing with clay and making masks. I was there bright and early Monday morning along with Kate, Shir and Jessica to set up for the 'campers'. They set up tables and chairs while I cut and stacked blocks of nice, red clay. When the children arrived, we went on a private tour of the museum's exhibit, "Generations, Ken Shores" led by Kate. This exhibit was filled with wonderful ceramic pieces both functional and non-functional, glazed and painted, as well as mirrored architectural pieces. Looking at the colorful, textural sculptural pieces, we explored the many ways that clay can be used in artwork.

With all this inspiration, we got to work in the studio/lab area. I did a quick demo of slab mask making and talked about shape and form. Then the children went to work rolling out their own slabs of clay and shaping their own masks. Pushing into the clay. Pulling it out. Attaching pieces. Carving lines and forms into it. Or punching holes in it, so that later they could add wire, beads or feathers. Some were inspired by the human face, others by animals. Some worked from photo reference materials, others from their imaginations. Whatever their inspiration, they worked all morning and afternoon building their own unique clay masks. At the end of the day, the masks were taken to be bisque fired and returned to the children for another day of art adventure.

On Friday, I came back to find all the masks had made a beautiful transition through the kiln. Each mask was bisque fired and ready for the next step: Color. We spent the day talking about and experimenting with color. How do certain colors make you feel? What are the primary, secondary and tertiary colors? How can you blend, layer and texture with colors? Then after everyone had painted their masks, we added extra elements. Feathers. Wire. Beads. Ribbons. Yarn. Just like each mask maker, each and every mask was individual and unique.

The week of art ended with a gallery show of all the artwork created by the children, papermaking, woodworking, wire beading and clay mask making. It was a fun, energetic, exciting and inspiring week. And I think we all had a great time at camp!