Nearly There

Moving presents problems when you make large work out of clay. Fortunately, I have great friends with mad skills. Two weeks ago Christopher Purcell of Purcell Toys and Shane Benedict of Liquidlogic Kayaks came to build crates and work on some of the finer points of staging the work. Shane and I had found an amazing little woodmill in East Flat Rock, NC, and acquired gorgeous slabs of local cherry and oak. Shane joined the cherry into a magnificent platform for the SeeSaw. (Sorry for all the superlatives, but this wood really astonishes me!)

When he's not making toys, Chris works as the Special Projects Agent for Liquid Logic. He was my special projects agent one weekend, and whipped out what my friend Cary called, "the most beautiful crates I've ever seen." I think so too. 

 The crates pretty much filled up the living room,

and the art pretty much filled the crates, 

and fortunately Shane loaned me his sprinter van. Also fortunately, I didn't hit the 200,000 mark on the odometer. That momentous occasion would have been a terrible responsibility. But the crates definitely filled the van

My parents have been helping throughout the progress of the show, locating the perfect old barn boards, sanding seesaws, picking up Roman from school, so many, many details. Dad was heroic loading and unloading crates of art and assembling hobbyhorse frame and just making it all happen. And of course I didn't get a photo of all that in action. But, thanks, Mom and Dad!

Here's the lovely slab of oak that makes Brother Rabbit  really come together. 

and the warm sun bathed us as we set up The Garden of Earthly Delights.  I'll get a clearer photo of him in place, but I liked the crazy lighting as we set up!

Hope to see lots of you at the show. Invite blog forthcoming!

Wheels

More shots of work coming together!

Barnyard Song

I had a cat and the cat pleased me;
I fed my cat by yonder tree.
Cat goes fiddle-i-fee.
I had a hen and the hen pleased me;
I fed my hen by yonder tree.
Hen goes chimmy-chuck, chimmy-chuck,
Cat goes fiddle-i-fee.
I had a duck and the duck pleased me;
I fed my duck by yonder tree.
Duck goes quack, quack,
Hen goes chimmy-chuck, chimmy-chuck,
Cat goes fiddle-i-fee.
I had a goose and the goose pleased me;
I fed my goose by yonder tree.
Goose goes swishy, swashy,
Duck goes quack, quack,
Hen goes chimmy-chuck, chimmy-chuck,
Cat goes fiddle-i-fee.
I had a sheep and the sheep pleased me,
I fed my sheep by yonder tree;
Sheep goes baa, baa,
Goose goes swishy, swashy,
Duck goes quack, quack,
Hen goes chimmy-chuck, chimmy-chuck,
Cat goes fiddle-i-fee.
I had a pig and the pig pleased me;
I fed my pig by yonder tree.
Pig goes griffy, gruffy,
Sheep goes baa, baa,
Goose goes swishy, swashy,
Duck goes quack, quack,
Hen goes chimmy-chuck, chimmy-chuck,
Cat goes fiddle-i-fee.
I had a cow and the cow pleased me;
I fed my cow by yonder tree.
Cow goes moo, moo,
Pig goes griffy, gruffy,
Sheep goes baa, baa,
Goose goes swishy, swashy,
Duck goes quack, quack,
Hen goes chimmy-chuck, chimmy-chuck,
Cat goes fiddle-i-fee.
I had a horse and the horse pleased me;
I fed my horse by yonder tree.
Horse goes neigh, neigh,
Cow goes moo, moo,
Pig goes griffy, gruffy,
Sheep goes baa, baa,
Goose goes swishy, swashy,
Duck goes quack, quack,
Hen goes chimmy-chuck, chimmy-chuck,
Cat goes fiddle-i-fee.
I had a dog and the dog pleased me;
I fed my dog by yonder tree.
Dog goes bow-wow, bow-wow,
Horse goes neigh, neigh,
Cow goes moo, moo,
Pig goes griffy, gruffy,
Sheep goes baa, baa,
Goose goes swishy, swashy,
Duck goes quack, quack,
Hen goes chimmy-chuck, chimmy-chuck,

Cat goes fiddle-i-fee.

Recent Work

Flower wheel, one of 4, stoneware,  6" each

Ever since I made this Llama cart a few years back, and set him in a rather dark and dangerous playground scene in a 2005 exhibit, I've put nearly all my work on wheels, springs, carts, or otherwise made them mobile. Over the course of those same years, I've also moved my studio a couple times, and moved away from large-scale site-specific public art and back into more portable artwork, so maybe I'm feeling the joys of mobility myself, and want to share that with my sculpture. 

Detail of a site-specific piece interpreting the natural history of Third Ward in Charlotte, NC, 2002 and ALL WORK AND NO PLAY, Stoneware and mixed media installation, 20' x 20' footprint, LOOM3 exhibit, Chatham Mills, NC, 2005

Recently, the wheels have gotten more and more decorative, like the flower wheels below, which will soon axel onto a rustic cart to carry the fierce and storied Caracal (also shown below.)

Caracal, Stoneware, lowfire glazes, carved stories, 27",  2010

Caracal, detail, 2010

In many of my recent pieces, I draw on the long-lived rhymes of childhood, which reveal a seamlessness in the existence of animals and people, and the way the workaday, everyday life of adults can offer worlds of imaginative play for children. 

Blue Horse and Alphabet Cart, stoneware, lo-fire glazes, vintage alphabet, 2011

Blue Horse and Alphabet Cart, details

I had a little hobby horse,
His name was Dapple Gray,
His head was made of pease straw,
His body made of hay;
I saddled him and bridled him,
And rode him up to town,
There came a little puff of wind
And blew him up and down.

The word play of nursery rhymes and those seamless metamorphoses between animal play, children's play also inspire the next piece. In the piece below, the Hobby Horse becomes a creepier character, saddled by mother nature, the Saddleback Caterpillar.

Saddleback Caterpillar, 40" x 36", in progress, 2011

Another kind of play from the stories of children that remains interesting to my adult self, Animals take on the roll of humans in staging their own experiences, and scales shift from small to large like Alice did drinking her potions. The dog below, also in progress, straps on a tool belt and pushes a hospital gurney. On that gurney, a playing field in miniature captures my vision of the dream-life of dogs: on soft green grass a series of dog toys, rabbits, and chickens in quantity and variety that only the most spoiled dogs could do more than dream of. 

Dog, detail from Gurney Paradise, stoneware, 48" high, in progress 2011.

Dog Toy, detail from Gurney Paradise, in progress 2011

Handcars seem like a great metaphor for freedom, the open road. Wherever the tracks and your elbow grease will take you, you're off. The next piece reminds me of those old black and white cartoons from the 20's and 30's, where chase scenes envisioned handcars skipping the tracks and going through houses, streets, and off into neverland, mashed together with a moment from "The Brementown Musicians," where a rooster escapes the fate of ending up next to a heap of dumplings. 

Rooster Handcar, detail of working foot

I made the Rooster handcar before I had chickens of my own, but perhaps this one (her name is Froggy) has some ideas about trying out wheels herself. 

Froggy visits the studio, summer 2011.