So after talking with Future about my idea for a ceramic
tribute / reminder of the cost of the wars in Iraqi and Afghanistan, she
mentioned I might make the work more personal. Future suggested my community or
family and friends. This made me think about the work that Lynn is doing with
the concept of home, and to an extent what others are doing with regards to
identity and personal history with their work and research this semester.
I started digging into my own connections to service as well
as family/ home identity. It started with looking at old pictures of my
Grandfather in his commission uniform from WW2 as well as my Uncle’s father and
the many images my Uncle has from his father’s extensive combat experience over
the Pacific as a pilot.
As I was gathering all these images from my family, the
e-mails and phone conversations lead to discussing plans for the holidays and I
couldn’t help but think about my post in response to Lynn’s research about home.
Specifically about my own interpretation of home as being a moment in time,
such as cooking in the kitchen with the wonderful women of my family, and not a
physical place. I started also gathering picture of my mom and aunts preparing
holiday meals, my Grandmother holding the great grandchildren, family and
friends gathered around a table talking and eating.
I was still thinking about the episode of Craft in America with
the Army Vet. Who imposed images of the military and war on his small cups and
the idea still resonated, but I started thinking about how I might use my own
family as the subject matter for the ceramic narrative for the class.
Press mold experiment didn’t work out on the first try. The
plaster process went well I just picked a bad item to make a mold off, far too
complex. I am going to give it another go over the Thanksgiving break.
Forgot to mention, all the images I am gathering will be inkjet printed and acrylic medium transfered to the fired ceramic pieces. I will document that process when the time comes (next week I hope depending on the kiln gods) so anyone who is not familiar with the process gets the scope.
ReplyDeleteBasically you print the image on an ink jet printer, then coat the image with 7-10 coats of a clear acrylic painting medium. You can then gently wash / rub away the paper backing and you are left with a clear acrylic film that picks up the ink / image. This can then be stuck / sealed on just about any surface with a few coats of the same medium. For ceramics you just glaze the piece in a light colored glaze so the image shows on the surface.
Daniel,
DeleteWow, your ceramic narrative and plaster press mold will be wonderful tributes to your family servicemen who have proudly served our country. I completely agree with Future's idea of making the work personal with historical, personal achievements of moments in time. They are very personal connections of rich family histories. After seeing your ideas, I couldn't help but relate your imagery to the imagery Martha created by incorporating family images into her fused glass works in Junction. I certainly see the relevancy of your ideas to Lynn's beautiful concept of home and how "home" ties our families together with family and friends. A gathering place of warmth, acceptance and recollections of days past. Your processes also remind me of the ceramic artist Forrest Middleton's vessels at FLM Ceramics, that transfer imagery onto his ceramics. I am very curious and excited to see your developments of this transfer process into clay.
Thank You for listing the processes. Great info. I may investigate with collage images for future ceramic pieces that would tie memories and histories together. Wow, intense.
WOW! That sounds like an awesome process and what a way to remember and have a keepsake for you!
DeleteDaniel,
ReplyDeleteI am looking forward to seeing the finished work. I have never tried to make a plaster press mold; the process seems like it is a difficult one. I may try to do the transfer technique with the gel medium on a ceramic piece. Am I correct in assuming that the gel medium burns off, but leaves the inkjet image underneath the glaze?
The image and gel medium is applyed after the firing process is finished. So it stays on the the piece. If you were to fire it after applying the image both the gel and ink would burn off, so you have to do it to a glazed finished piece.
Deletenow that makes sense! I was wondering the same thing, how would it go through the firing. that is so cool! I wonder if it would work the same on a canvas or other surfaces such as wood?
DeleteAndrea it can be transfered to just about any surface.
Delete