After several sketches and a bit of floundering, and then heavy despair, just after midterms… This happened.

We had just started throwing in my beginning ceramics classes at Hesston College, and all the varying degrees of success with beginning throwers were in full steam. Everybody was doing great work, getting thrown around by one pound of clay, or getting back in practice with 2 or 3. In a moment of curiosity and remembering a vow I made to myself several years ago, “if it’s new, or isn’t easy, or if it’s scary, definitely do it at least once”, I hauled out 25 pounds of Conrad Snider sculpture clay, plopped it down on a wheel, and went to work.

I was sweaty and exhausted by the end, and got well flung around in the process, standing with one knee on the wheel and the wheel braced against my other leg. I am sure it was entertaining for those still present from class.

In any case, this experience changed everything.  All I can think about is platters.  I wake up thinking about that hard, heavy work, and the textures and forms that are possible.  There is not enough time in the world.

So, the third personal series for this semester is an image based story on platters, with decals made from my own drawings, titled The Seven Stages of a Fight.  The image aesthetic is based upon Depression Era wordless novels and protest literature, drawn from Wordless Books by David A Berona.

Shouting. Anger. Chagrin. Acceptance. Isolation. Apology. Resolution.