I called this handmade sculpture "Awakening" - made at a time of my life when I was making big internal changes. As I mentioned to Lois, this piece was birthed in a 'saggar' which is a hollow clay tube that sits on a kiln shelf and has a lid. The sculpture was placed inside the saggar and surrounded with pieces of wood, pine cones, copper wire, charcoal and various metallic oxides.

The lid has a small opening for the micro-climate inside the saggar to interact with the wider outside kiln atmosphere. At around 1300°C, the clay begins to blister and boil and gets flashed by the metallic oxides and carbon. This piece is hollow and stands on 4 sturdy feet. The face is made from white clay, glazed with a clear glaze.

I'm fairly certain that the being emerging from the intense fire is a musician or sound-sculptor

 

Last edited by a moderator: Sep 4, 2020

A very most excellent piece you've made there. There's movement about the physical object of the form itself as well as in the story that is birthed by each individual's own personal imagining of what's going on in there, the reflection of the viewer interacting with the the work as an interior mirror.

 

Please, moar!

 

Thanks @Daddy Lovebone - much appreciated!

 

2 things...

1. I like how someone rated the OP nasty. It's funny to me because, right before I saw the rating I thought to myself "self, that looks like a full grown man being thrust from a birth canal,". So when I saw the rating I giggled cuz they clearly thought something similar.

2. I wonder what the weight and total dimensions are? I like your creation so much I willing to pay to have you ship it to me, because I have an idea to take it a step further. It's hollow right? Anyway if at all possible let's talk over PM.

If not, I do like where you went with it. Keep up the good work.

 

Hi @Funk U - thanks for chiming in with your comments.

For me (when I made this sculpture 'Awakening') it was not about another journey through my mother's birth canal, but about birth as a metaphor for risk, letting go of my beliefs, values, attachments and entering into a kind of renewal within myself. IOW, waking up. It also does not reflect any religion, but rather entering into religiousness. There's a vast difference between the two. I don't punish myself by reaching for some sort of ever-receeding perfection. With the pottery I made then, and with music I create now, I make a shi*load of mistakes. If I didn't I wouldn't learn a thing.

Sorry I can't help you with shipping because there's nothing to ship. It's been about 30 years since I stopped pottery. All the photos I've posted here (with encouragement from @Lois Lane) have been sold or given away long ago.