Belden Brick Factory & the Beam Part II

Belden Brick Company Artist Residency & my very first Residency ever!

I had a great time in Sugercreek, OH at the Belden Brick Company I made work, decorated lots of bricks, had fun, and met some wonderful people! Thank you to everyone who made this residency possible. 

 Hard at work decorating bricks

More bricks then I have ever seen in my life & stacking the bee hive kiln

One of the bee hive kilns

Bricks headed into the train kiln

Extruding the bricks

 The beam piece...

Forrest's Pledge to a Bloggin Summer

Hi Y'all, Forrest Gard here. After two years of living in Louisiana I have earned the right to say, y'all. Now that summer has arrived, I am attempting to catch a breath of fresh air. This past semester at LSU was a very busy but successful one, here are some of the highlights…

I taught my first class as an instructor of record and LOVED IT! I also made a new body of work titled "Make it, Take it" and received the incredible news that my graduate review committee has passed me onto thesis! This means that I can officially form my thesis committee and submit a thesis proposal in the fall! And there is more...I took a paper making class that allowed me the freedom to experiment with paper pulp casting! NCECA was in Houston this year and was an easy drive, I took some photos of my favorites pieces. We also had some excellent MFA exhibitions at LSU this spring and we had Jason Burnett as our visiting artist! Lots of exciting future posts so stay tuned!

I have found blogging and going to graduate school to be quite a juggle and thankfully Jeni has been able to manage posting info relating to her studio. Although I have not been posting entries that much, I have been taking an excessive amount of photographs. So now that summer has arrived I am making a pledge to catch up on my part of our blog and share all of the excitement that has been happening in my studio at LSU. Consider this blog a mini preview of what is to come….and now some pictures….

Tworkin in the studio's natural light. 

Everybo[d]ys dream. 

Some handmade fancy prizes for some future winners.

Cast paper pulp sculpture

Cast paper pulp sculpture

Jason Burnett…peeling away to reveal his magic!

Some of Burnett's workshop demos

One of my students! This is her first semester working with clay…from wedging to this wheel-thrown and assembled beauty! And some other stuff in-between. 

Another one of my students. Shrimp and Grits. God Bless southern food, its good for the soul!

Mr. Andy Shaw playing one of my games (hopefully having fun).

The breaks are exciting…but are not rewarded. Sorry Tanner you have to Make it to Take it (a trophy) 

Omar will always be referred to as , Champ. He first won basketball and then gambled his small trophy by playing skee ball which he won twice and earned a top shelf big trophy! The expressive shows it all, this was an incredible moment. 

I hope you enjoyed these preview pictures. My upcoming blog posts will feature in-depth explanations, works in progress, and more detailed pictures on everything that was previewed in this post, trust me this is just a tiny tiny glimpse of what is to come. Until next time….

 If you are not already a follower please do so by clicking Join this site and entering you name and email address on the right side, this will assure that an email is sent to you as the blog posts come in… you won't want to miss any posts this summer!

-Forrest-

the Beam.

I was inspired to make the beam piece after seeing an image of Robert Morris, Exhibition at the Green Gallery, New York, 1964-65. (image attached below) I am a gymnastics lover and the long beam in the middle reminded me of a balance beam. I could not stop thinking about it as a playground a place where I was allowed to run, jump and hang on the art. I decided that I wanted to make art that you can touch (but then I thought I already do that... I make vessels with the intent that someone will use them), then I thought I will make something that your feet touch. It is not everyday that someone asks you to take your shoes off. (Unless of course your friends with me!) I am interested in the movement of the body, the impression on the clay, the act of balance as you move across, and in the simplest way interested in the people. Who would take my offer to remove their shoes and walk across a beam of soft clay?

Robert Morris, Exhibition at the Green Gallery, New York, 1964-65

Red Lodge Clay Center Juried National II

 I am honored to have a pair of my cups showing in the Red Lodge Clay Center Juried National II!

Check out more information about the show on the Red Lodge website.

http://redlodgeclaycenter.com/lists.php?aid=458&type=artist#.UYnPRL_LXAo

One piece from the show that I can't stop thinking about was made by artist Angela Dieffenbach. I think its the color. But then I keep going back to the form...

my students are amazing

I realize I might be a little bias but I had some amazing students this past semester! Below are a few images of the work they created spring 2013 while enrolled in High Fire Ceramics. The first project was narrative based and focused on handbuilding skills. The second project was focused on wheel thrown vessels. For the final project students created a food specific vessel where they were asked to reconsider how the food they chose was presented. Our final class was a celebratory feast where everyone brought in food prepared specifically for the dish they created.