http://www.jeremysimsart.com Jeremy Sims Art Sat, 18 May 2013 19:12:29 +0000 http://www.jeremysimsart.com en http://jeremysimsart.com/Drills-Chills-and-Thrills http://jeremysimsart.com/following/jeremysimsart.com/Drills-Chills-and-Thrills Sat, 18 May 2013 19:12:29 +0000 Jeremy Sims Art 5625609 Drill Demo from Jeremy Sims on Vimeo. These videos are really slowing me down. I finally think I've worked out some of the basic kinks to this, so posts should be speeding up to normal again, which right now is... infrequent. Anyway, here is something. several different variations on painting, and carving with a drill. In this I think the most successful marks were with a regular drill bit, instead of the brush, to create some strong lines with bumpy edge. there are several shows in the works right now, making this a short post. Enjoy! Drill Demo from Jeremy Sims on Vimeo. These videos are really slowing me down. I finally think I've worked out some of the basic kinks to this, so posts should... http://jeremysimsart.com/Platter-Demo http://jeremysimsart.com/following/jeremysimsart.com/Platter-Demo Fri, 26 Apr 2013 21:29:19 +0000 Jeremy Sims Art 5494489 Platter from Jeremy Sims on Vimeo. Welcome to my ghettotastic first attempts to blunder through video recordings. Done with my iphone (which has somehow managed to get a piece of clay stuck INSIDE the lens) sitting on a piece of kiln shelf. Another demo to come now that I've finally mastered the dumb art of posting on vimeo. Anyway this is my first demonstration of throwing large forms standing up. In my basic and intro whels demos I talk a lot about throwing your bodyweight around instead of your muscle. I like standing because this gets even easier to do, and the best way to get started in doing something like this is to put bricks on the two back legs of your chair. You can't see it, but when I'm centering, I have my left leg wrapped around the leg of the chair to stabilize my body. This was also the beginning for the platter, "kierkegaard" More to come. As you can see there is lots hapening right now. -Sims Platter from Jeremy Sims on Vimeo. Welcome to my ghettotastic first attempts to blunder through video recordings. Done with my iphone (which has somehow managed... http://jeremysimsart.com/Kierkegaard-and-Water-Basin http://jeremysimsart.com/following/jeremysimsart.com/Kierkegaard-and-Water-Basin Sat, 20 Apr 2013 17:59:59 +0000 Jeremy Sims Art 5403957 <img src="http://payload155.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5403957/IMG_0843.JPG" width="670" height="500" width_o="2048" height_o="1529" src_o="http://payload155.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5403957/IMG_0843_o.JPG" data-mid="29344527" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload155.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5403957/IMG_0846.JPG" width="670" height="500" width_o="2048" height_o="1529" src_o="http://payload155.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5403957/IMG_0846_o.JPG" data-mid="29344528" border="0" align="left"/> My camera is on improvising mode since these photos happened sometime around 5 am with my iphone. Image one is a plate that will hang from the wall called "Kierkegaard", image two is a plate that will ultimately be shown on a built in stand, like Loki's Wash Basin which is called "Water Basin" These are two of some of the new sculptures being made fr my upcoming solo show in June at the Chesapeake Arts Center, "Throne and Altar" both dealing with political, medieval, and religious concepts, as well as the ceramic staple "thrown and altered" form and therefore craft issues. It feels important to me to have my work deal with art issues but also have some roots in the craft side as well. I guess you could call it having my cake and eating it too. Kierkergaard is influenced by the ideas behind the book "fear and Trembling" by Soren Kierkargaard, which is focusing entirely on the test where God told Abraham to kill his only son as a test to his faith. It's not exactly the classiest of moments in the Bible, and Kierkergaard explored that on both a critical, and psychological level. Either way I thought it could be a play on the thought that Voulkos had within the abstract expressionist movement, in which he was worried about closing doors rather than opening them. He was worried he had begun killing his children and when you look at his students, Nagle, Souldner, Clayton Bailey, Shaw... all pop or funk artists in some way... Think about it. They had no choice but to go in a totally opposite direction. Anyway, I wanted to take the base concept of the story from kierkergaards perspective and see if I could create it using different elements of design. so the final work will also include a fishnet stocking, and ball of clay trimmings (that has been hollowed out) hanging within the stocking as a metaphor for a break in the cycle of rebirth, with an element of suspense. It's also able to hang on a wall, which is how the platter will be installed. Water Basin is a little more straightforward. When I was raised United Methodist and baptized, they have this small dish that holds the holy water. It's actually about the size of the foot of this vessel but I was really more interested in just using it as an introduction to the theme as being inspired by religion. The face is sitting next to two big slabs cut into the shape of a cross, and pointing into the head. There is heavy alteration of the face after it was pressed into a mold, and to the left is a trimming from the plate. I wanted to use the idea of life and death in the cycle of clay, so I thought that trimmings (while forming beautiful random lines and automatic shapes) as a stand in for a "return to the earth" idea. More to come as I can get to it, and I should have a video up soon. -Sims My camera is on improvising mode since these photos happened sometime around 5 am with my iphone. Image one is a plate that will hang from the wall called... http://jeremysimsart.com/Solar-Painting-Experiments http://jeremysimsart.com/following/jeremysimsart.com/Solar-Painting-Experiments Sun, 07 Apr 2013 12:04:44 +0000 Jeremy Sims Art 5353896 <img src="http://payload152.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5353896/solar painting.JPG" width="373" height="499" width_o="373" height_o="499" src_o="http://payload152.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5353896/solar painting_o.JPG" data-mid="28804392" border="0" align="left"/> So a small project today, soon to hopefully blossom into an entire summer series if these turn out to work nicely. Many of us who have exhibited color paintings in windowfronts are aware of solar damage to the surface of a painting. I have a CD in my car that is half yellow and half faded tan because another CD sat on top of it in the back of my car. That got me curious, I wonder how we could take advantage of that? How cool would it be to make artwork that recorded the solar rays at a certain time of the day for a month by burning away a dark color into a lighter one? I wonder what new subtle colors could be made that way. The photo is the first experiment, set outside today. The next will have a small shelter sitting over it, to shield the solar damage past 3PM, so there will be a comet tail mark where the sun hits the shape that covers the surface (here, a wooden block is used) The choice of black felt obvious to me. BLACK PAINTINGS. More to come, maybe I'll show my in house studio sometime. -Sims So a small project today, soon to hopefully blossom into an entire summer series if these turn out to work nicely. Many of us who have exhibited color paintings... http://jeremysimsart.com/NCECA-Conclusion http://jeremysimsart.com/following/jeremysimsart.com/NCECA-Conclusion Sun, 31 Mar 2013 15:21:57 +0000 Jeremy Sims Art 5302457 <img src="http://payload150.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5302457/6a00e54f9f8f8c883400e5506b3e278834-800wi.jpg" width="342" height="222" width_o="342" height_o="222" src_o="http://payload150.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5302457/6a00e54f9f8f8c883400e5506b3e278834-800wi_o.jpg" data-mid="28527055" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload150.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5302457/436.jpg" width="350" height="350" width_o="350" height_o="350" src_o="http://payload150.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5302457/436_o.jpg" data-mid="28527056" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload150.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5302457/89278.jpg" width="600" height="560" width_o="600" height_o="560" src_o="http://payload150.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5302457/89278_o.jpg" data-mid="28527057" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload150.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5302457/2811480381_d6005f97d5.jpg" width="500" height="376" width_o="500" height_o="376" src_o="http://payload150.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5302457/2811480381_d6005f97d5_o.jpg" data-mid="28527058" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload150.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5302457/a4aa8439d02191a446dd83118c2e6ee1.jpg" width="350" height="263" width_o="350" height_o="263" src_o="http://payload150.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5302457/a4aa8439d02191a446dd83118c2e6ee1_o.jpg" data-mid="28527059" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload150.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5302457/art22711widea.jpg" width="500" height="375" width_o="500" height_o="375" src_o="http://payload150.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5302457/art22711widea_o.jpg" data-mid="28527060" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload150.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5302457/ClarkeMirrorsofFlowers.jpg" width="426" height="541" width_o="426" height_o="541" src_o="http://payload150.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5302457/ClarkeMirrorsofFlowers_o.jpg" data-mid="28527061" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload150.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5302457/jun_kaneko.jpg" width="500" height="424" width_o="500" height_o="424" src_o="http://payload150.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5302457/jun_kaneko_o.jpg" data-mid="28527062" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload150.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5302457/jun_kaneko2.jpg" width="372" height="500" width_o="372" height_o="500" src_o="http://payload150.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5302457/jun_kaneko2_o.jpg" data-mid="28527063" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload150.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5302457/lorraineglessner.blogspot.ca_2009_07_michael-lucero.html.jpg" width="480" height="720" width_o="480" height_o="720" src_o="http://payload150.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5302457/lorraineglessner.blogspot.ca_2009_07_michael-lucero.html_o.jpg" data-mid="28527064" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload150.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5302457/nagle_-_cardworthy_category.jpg" width="250" height="363" width_o="250" height_o="363" src_o="http://payload150.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5302457/nagle_-_cardworthy_category_o.jpg" data-mid="28527065" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload150.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5302457/operation.jpg" width="670" height="474" width_o="847" height_o="600" src_o="http://payload150.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5302457/operation_o.jpg" data-mid="28527066" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload150.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5302457/pinajian.jpg" width="670" height="502" width_o="764" height_o="573" src_o="http://payload150.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5302457/pinajian_o.jpg" data-mid="28527068" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload150.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5302457/twin-mountain-372.jpg" width="640" height="468" width_o="640" height_o="468" src_o="http://payload150.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5302457/twin-mountain-372_o.jpg" data-mid="28527069" border="0" align="left"/> Art takes from design and design takes you to the art. Craft is the molecules in design and art. Clay is softer than metal, and has more body than paint. If an object is poorly designed, but you want to use it anyway, does that mean it's art? Pottery is a fantastic and profound hobby. Design is the world that houses art. Fashion is only truly understood by a genius. Trends are only allowed to be set. Money is genius. Art is never pretty. Art is not always found in an object, but design is. Art, Design, Fashion, and Craft are all different parts of the whole of Epistemics. Anything which expands with the more you understand is both Art and beyond Art. If you are reaching for things that are slightly outside of your reach, you are an artist. If you reach for these things, and find them, you are a genius. -Sims Art takes from design and design takes you to the art. Craft is the molecules in design and art. Clay is softer than metal, and has more body than paint. If an... http://jeremysimsart.com/NCECA-2013 http://jeremysimsart.com/following/jeremysimsart.com/NCECA-2013 Sun, 24 Mar 2013 13:50:20 +0000 Jeremy Sims Art 5251760 <img src="http://payload147.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5251760/485275540_510b611865.jpg" width="458" height="500" width_o="458" height_o="500" src_o="http://payload147.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5251760/485275540_510b611865_o.jpg" data-mid="28242782" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload147.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5251760/Bede Clarke for web.jpg" width="310" height="400" width_o="310" height_o="400" src_o="http://payload147.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5251760/Bede Clarke for web_o.jpg" data-mid="28242784" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload147.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5251760/Bede-Clarke.jpg" width="550" height="595" width_o="550" height_o="595" src_o="http://payload147.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5251760/Bede-Clarke_o.jpg" data-mid="28242785" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload147.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5251760/Chris Staley for web.jpg" width="400" height="266" width_o="400" height_o="266" src_o="http://payload147.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5251760/Chris Staley for web_o.jpg" data-mid="28242787" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload147.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5251760/Chris-Staley-Img3News.jpg" width="462" height="307" width_o="462" height_o="307" src_o="http://payload147.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5251760/Chris-Staley-Img3News_o.jpg" data-mid="28242788" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload147.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5251760/ClarkeMirrorsofFlowers.jpg" width="426" height="541" width_o="426" height_o="541" src_o="http://payload147.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5251760/ClarkeMirrorsofFlowers_o.jpg" data-mid="28242789" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload147.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5251760/Jim_Leedy_Cup_and_Saucer_467_212.jpg" width="500" height="388" width_o="500" height_o="388" src_o="http://payload147.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5251760/Jim_Leedy_Cup_and_Saucer_467_212_o.jpg" data-mid="28242791" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload147.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5251760/new_vessels_group.jpg" width="324" height="228" width_o="324" height_o="228" src_o="http://payload147.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5251760/new_vessels_group_o.jpg" data-mid="28242792" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload147.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5251760/operation.jpg" width="670" height="474" width_o="847" height_o="600" src_o="http://payload147.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5251760/operation_o.jpg" data-mid="28242793" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload147.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5251760/sunshine2.jpg" width="452" height="343" width_o="452" height_o="343" src_o="http://payload147.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5251760/sunshine2_o.jpg" data-mid="28242795" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload147.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5251760/1.JPG" width="311" height="499" width_o="311" height_o="499" src_o="http://payload147.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5251760/1_o.JPG" data-mid="28242932" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload147.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5251760/Prayer and Stigmta in Metal Unity3.JPG" width="500" height="473" width_o="500" height_o="473" src_o="http://payload147.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/5251760/Prayer and Stigmta in Metal Unity3_o.JPG" data-mid="28242961" border="0" align="left"/> NCECA 2013 All in all a good lecture. The first day after the grand opening was a little sour, the talks were mostly pointless that day (Save for the panel on age, that was at least somewhat interesting with Jim Leedy cracking jokes at the other two artists for being old) Thursday was much better, the modernist lecture was by far the best... Le's get down to business. To put it simply what I gathered from seeing the Garth Clark Colletion, Speaking with the modernism panelists and frm chatting with Jim Leedy and Richard Shaw again was this very crucial element of information... The art world's artists are getting a little tunnel vision. Specialization in any one field does not necessarily yield new practices, just someone very skilled at old ones. Paul Scott, for example, moved into ceramics with a background in printmaking and changed a lot of the rules to ceramic art as well as printmaking by blurring those mediums. No material is more important than the idea or concept. Everything else is a means to an end, and modernity involves using those materials and methods as a part of the concept, as well as the way they are used because modernity is about everything coming together as a cohesive, current point. Lastly, modernism as a stylistic point in time dealt with first a leveling of the visual hierarchy with artists like Picasso and Mondrian in how the formal elements were digested and reworked on an objective level. Following that, was a leveling of the hierarchies of materials (which in some ways is still happening). Following this, there was a need to level the social and political hierarchies (we are still kindof doing this too) And eventually, theoretically Modernism can take us as a society into this singularity of... basically of idealized equality. But obviously that will never be completely here, because then everything would be meaningless and there would not be much interest in anything new. So maybe then you'll see people or groups that are more deliberate about one thing or another, or say "no" to something out of a matter of taste. At this point everything is a matter of conjecture but you get the idea. Hope that was insightful, I think the next post will be a continuation of this idea, and I may talk a little bit more about Reitz. -Sims NCECA 2013 All in all a good lecture. The first day after the grand opening was a little sour, the talks were mostly pointless that day (Save for the panel on... http://jeremysimsart.com/Some-Notes-on-Carbon-Trapping http://jeremysimsart.com/following/jeremysimsart.com/Some-Notes-on-Carbon-Trapping Fri, 15 Mar 2013 22:03:56 +0000 Jeremy Sims Art 4908702 <img src="http://payload130.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4908702/6.JPG" width="500" height="459" width_o="500" height_o="459" src_o="http://payload130.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4908702/6_o.JPG" data-mid="27905807" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload130.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4908702/13.JPG" width="500" height="556" width_o="500" height_o="556" src_o="http://payload130.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4908702/13_o.JPG" data-mid="27905809" border="0" align="left"/> OH MY GOD I NEED TO UPDATE My poor, poor blog section! For now, let me mention a few things that are in progress, to hopefully explain my shamefully long hiatus from my regular updates. First: I have been updating, see the statement, buy, upcoming shows, etc sections! These have been a little busy lately. Next: I just moved into a three story home being renovated as a live-in ceramics studio. This is a HUGE undertaking and while I'm making good progress (really good) it eats into my ability to type things online Again: Several woodfirings have happened. If you've read any of my past articles, you know these are pretty work intensive. More: I FINALLY just began painting again. More to come as I get back into it and rename a bunch of things my undergrad work was touching on. I'm starting this by just... resolving all my undergrad pieces. Last: Work has just been... WORK lately. Second Last: Etsy. ETSY!!!! Here's something meant for ANY undergrad struggling with carbon trapping. I wish I knew this stuff when I was in undergrad, I just read the idea in a REALLY helpful article in Ceramics Monthly but wanted to cut to the chase of what it was covering. CARBON TRAPPING! (Cue any artist who doesn't do ceramics or isnt a chemist leaving) So, you know how carbon trap shinos work, right? Any classic carbon trap or reduction fire potter will talk about this (Val Cushing is the example I will use)... specifically, how reduction achieves the effects ceramic artists look for. I have covered reduction in a past post, but to clarify reduction occurs with the absence of oxygen in a kiln where fire is present. The flame needs oxygen to fuel it, so when pottery gets reduced, the fire is taking the oxygen molecules from the glaze and clay, which can cause a change in color and surface. On another note, the varied atmosphere of reduction layers a glaze somewhat like the rings on a tree change due to weather, which is why artists like Pete Pinnell will say that reduction is typically more sophisticated than oxidation (With a remote on your kiln it is now possible to vary an oxidation atmosphere with slow and fast cooling, but obviously reduction is not available) Ok so you know how if your reduce a glaze, and then introduce oxygen, it will bleach the glaze? That's actually not entirely the case. Here is why. When a glaze finally melts, it seals the surface. If you want to master the art of carbon trapping, you have to learn the exact cone or temperature that your glaze melts at, and then heavily reduce with SMOKE before then. The smoke builds up that sooty carbon and when the glaze melts it gets sealed into the surface. So if you had a shino that melted at cone 04, you should reduce between cone 05 to cone 03-ish to get that carbon trap surface. I should add that it is important to generate soot and smoke as well as reduction at this time. But here's where that might get tricky: There are always hot and cold spots in the kiln (Even reduction) So you have to make sure that you get the right temperature and don't over or undershoot it. But after melting the glaze, if your kiln is full of JUST that shino, you can do the rest of the firing in straight oxidation. (Which will make the kiln fire MUCH faster) So let me say that again: You don't need to do a heavy reduction at cone 010 and maintain reduction all the way to 10, as is written in Cushings Handbook, and most classic reduction fire potters say you do. You just need to know your glaze melt cone, and reduce right before then. Any other reduction is just an experiment, but that is when you will get carbon trapping. Here is how you can learn your glaze melt cone! Make some test rings. These are little clay rings that are dipped in your glaze. during a firing, you can take them out of the kiln at different times with a metal rod (like raku) I have seen these used to measure soda or salt buildup and thought it was silly, but here I can see it being essential to know your glaze. One last thing to make this fun... Not just shino's can carbon trap. Porcelain on its own will do it, Pinnell's green will do the same thing, and much more. GET TESTING! -Sims OH MY GOD I NEED TO UPDATE My poor, poor blog section! For now, let me mention a few things that are in progress, to hopefully explain my shamefully long hiatus... http://jeremysimsart.com/New-Year-New-Work http://jeremysimsart.com/following/jeremysimsart.com/New-Year-New-Work Thu, 03 Jan 2013 21:32:21 +0000 Jeremy Sims Art 4617478 No images today but I will simply talk about what is in the works. Expect to see me at NCECA this year, doing more woodfirings, building up a collection of oxidation pots to rival the silliness of my undergrad work, painting, building a raku kiln, making more of those altered cups, and this neat idea: Philosopher's Stones. You'll see when I make the first one and get the idea. Japan? Japan! I am doing the fine tuning on my production line as well. Secondly, I'd like to mention Samantha McCurdy and Alex Dijulio for their gallery space in Dallas. It's beautiful to see such drastically mixed media work being produced with ceramic art in mind as well. I think in my lifetime I will see the artistic hierarchies fall apart, and I will be a part of what causes that. Breathe. This is January. -Sims No images today but I will simply talk about what is in the works. Expect to see me at NCECA this year, doing more woodfirings, building up a collection of... http://jeremysimsart.com/Some-stories-of-pottery-anomalies http://jeremysimsart.com/following/jeremysimsart.com/Some-stories-of-pottery-anomalies Fri, 14 Dec 2012 16:50:12 +0000 Jeremy Sims Art 4610801 Let me begin this by mentioning: I met a potter in Cancun once, and four years later saw his ware selling in a thrift store in Baltimore. One of my professors had a bowl selling at a garage sale, the owner of it was willing to part with Sarah Barnes' bowl for $2. I don't believe it sold. I grew up seeing a potter that sold at the Texas Renn fair (I married someone there once because I'm a nerd) and this was his only outlet that he sold the work at. Just last year I found out that he stopped making the work after 2006 and had begun to take the work that didn't sell last year. The space he sold at had his kiln, glazes and materials and he just left everything unfinished and frozen like something out of a twilight zone story. I've traded a cup for a haircut, food, gas, rent, used cups as collateral, and even the chance to crash for a while at the house of a friend. Artistic objects have interesting lives of their own, but I think they are more noticed than say the life of a microwave because of the identity involved within them. Currently I have cups owned worldwide in Japan, China, Singapore, Poland, Germany, Denmark, Paris, The UK, Italy, Mexico, Canada, and somewhere around half of the states. I try to keep track of where my functional work ends up, and these are some interesting stories I know about them. Recently I made a collection of work to sell at a ceramics studio I work at, to donate. Because they were selling at a lower price than my gallery line, I couldn't make them look anything like them or have my visual style close to it or my regular work would sell for less. Since my regular work is generally black, earth tones and.... gritty.... These ended up being lowbrow, brightly colored, excessivly upbeat, and very user friendly. They have drawings of girly shoes, pie, balloons, smiling faces, puppies, and fruit all over them. It's like the Anal Cunt Album "Picnic of Love" Clayworks has a shelf in their gallery called Cup a Class that they use to raise money for community arts where I work. Cups sell at 10.00 a pop. I had a design that I made specifically for this, that took no extra time to finish and sell where the cup was compressed at one end and a hole was cut out to make the handle. I made at least 20 or so for them and they have all sold. Not a clue where any of them went, and I think I even stamped my name on them but these were mostly just glaze tests for me. At one point I entertained the idea of putting them into my studio practice somehow and may still do that. I don't know yet. I gave a cup to a girl from Europe and told her I would come and get it back. Partly to motivate myself to make the trip with a crazy promise and partly because she was cute. Well wouldn't you know it I was there on professional business and came to get it. As I am visiting and checking the shelves.... it's not there. I ask about it and she tells me she gave it to her Grandmother. What? Here I am giving my invested artwork away on an outrageous promise that I actually manage to pull off, and it's gone. Not sure if it was even used by anyone but her grandmother. That was really annoying at the time but in hindsight I guess absurd and I clearly care about my artwork like my strongest romance. Respect your elders. When I was in undergrad the girl I was dating had a birthday coming up. Me being productive I decided I would make her something on the side, but stuff got busy and I got into a time crunch. Me being an insufferable wise ass, I bought a blank office mug from a store, and in black china paint scrawled R. Mutt (A reference to Duchamp when he was doing object appropriation) on the side. We broke up like 5 months later. I have no clue if she still has the mug Zak Greene, an illustrator and one of the original founders of a club I was involved in and later co-running called "The Viking Clan" owns a mug that I made for him with a dragon on one side coming out of the handle, the other side says "suck my art cock". I'm pretty sure he still owns it. One of the mothers of another past girlfriend (Her parents were gay and she was adopted from Puerto Rico) Gave me a big box of rubber coffee lids and in exchange I gave her a cup that fit in the lid. I believe to this day it is a part of her morning commute to work, and I love playing with those coffee lids. Another friend of mine gave me chainmail wrist bracers and a chainmail tie for a mug that says "GOD OF THUNDER AND ASSKICKING, AND I'M ALL OUT OF THUNDER" I love wearing that tie, It's seen one or two openings and gallery visits. A few MICA students supported me on my journey overseas to Denmark, and in return I sent them some cups from the project. I did not know at the time that the rest of the work would be sold there by a gallery connected to a project called KIT. If you see anyone with a mug that has a stamped X inside of a square, that was made by me in Denmark and is one of a small handful that came back to the people who supported me. They sell at $50.00 a mug now. A friend of mine in Seattle bought a cup at our art fare in undergrad for $3. nobody I know recognizes the chop, I think it was made by an intro student. He has some of my more elaborate cups and tea bowls because we bonded a lot over tea making and he is awesome. Guess which cup he prefers? The $3 intro students :P All of the cups I made and gave to people in undergrad will never be made again. I've moved on to more technical and complete things, but I have a fondness for these cups because they were made when I was figuring it out. The work I make now is a lot fancier and streamlined but these were dumpy and awkward to an extreme, and the people that gathered to them were different to an extreme too. Most of those people who own them I still keep in close contact with, and we are great friends. I also realize that I gave a lot of cups to girls I was dating, close friends, and family. Usually the piece made me think of them, so I thought they should have it. This is how my mind works, and probably a good example of how invested I am in art. -Sims Let me begin this by mentioning: I met a potter in Cancun once, and four years later saw his ware selling in a thrift store in Baltimore. One of my professors had a... http://jeremysimsart.com/Function-and-Design http://jeremysimsart.com/following/jeremysimsart.com/Function-and-Design Sun, 25 Nov 2012 11:33:50 +0000 Jeremy Sims Art 4495586 <img src="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/1.JPG" width="667" height="500" width_o="667" height_o="500" src_o="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/1_o.JPG" data-mid="23870290" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/2.JPG" width="667" height="500" width_o="667" height_o="500" src_o="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/2_o.JPG" data-mid="23870293" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/3.JPG" width="603" height="500" width_o="603" height_o="500" src_o="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/3_o.JPG" data-mid="23870294" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/4.JPG" width="555" height="500" width_o="555" height_o="500" src_o="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/4_o.JPG" data-mid="23870295" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/5.JPG" width="563" height="500" width_o="563" height_o="500" src_o="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/5_o.JPG" data-mid="23870296" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/6.JPG" width="568" height="500" width_o="568" height_o="500" src_o="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/6_o.JPG" data-mid="23870298" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/7.JPG" width="587" height="500" width_o="587" height_o="500" src_o="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/7_o.JPG" data-mid="23870299" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/8.JPG" width="487" height="500" width_o="487" height_o="500" src_o="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/8_o.JPG" data-mid="23870301" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/9.JPG" width="473" height="500" width_o="473" height_o="500" src_o="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/9_o.JPG" data-mid="23870302" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/10.JPG" width="426" height="500" width_o="426" height_o="500" src_o="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/10_o.JPG" data-mid="23870303" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/11.JPG" width="519" height="500" width_o="519" height_o="500" src_o="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/11_o.JPG" data-mid="23870304" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/12.JPG" width="536" height="500" width_o="536" height_o="500" src_o="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/12_o.JPG" data-mid="23870305" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/13.JPG" width="493" height="500" width_o="493" height_o="500" src_o="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/13_o.JPG" data-mid="23870307" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/14.JPG" width="394" height="500" width_o="394" height_o="500" src_o="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/14_o.JPG" data-mid="23870309" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/15.JPG" width="500" height="500" width_o="500" height_o="500" src_o="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/15_o.JPG" data-mid="23870310" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/16.JPG" width="399" height="500" width_o="399" height_o="500" src_o="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/16_o.JPG" data-mid="23870311" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/17.JPG" width="592" height="500" width_o="592" height_o="500" src_o="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/17_o.JPG" data-mid="23870312" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/18.JPG" width="445" height="500" width_o="445" height_o="500" src_o="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/18_o.JPG" data-mid="23870314" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/19.JPG" width="403" height="500" width_o="403" height_o="500" src_o="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/19_o.JPG" data-mid="23870316" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/20.JPG" width="481" height="500" width_o="481" height_o="500" src_o="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/20_o.JPG" data-mid="23870317" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/21.JPG" width="464" height="500" width_o="464" height_o="500" src_o="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/21_o.JPG" data-mid="23870318" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/22.JPG" width="458" height="500" width_o="458" height_o="500" src_o="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/22_o.JPG" data-mid="23870319" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/23.JPG" width="517" height="500" width_o="517" height_o="500" src_o="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/23_o.JPG" data-mid="23870321" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/24.JPG" width="612" height="500" width_o="612" height_o="500" src_o="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/24_o.JPG" data-mid="23870324" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/25.JPG" width="590" height="500" width_o="590" height_o="500" src_o="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/25_o.JPG" data-mid="23870325" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/26.JPG" width="667" height="500" width_o="667" height_o="500" src_o="http://payload109.cargocollective.com/1/1/58087/4495586/26_o.JPG" data-mid="23870326" border="0" align="left"/> Ok so to run through as much information as possible with as little text as I can, HERE is where I posted my notes and plans for this collection of functional work. It was all woodfired, and I wanted to take the most advantage of the kiln as I could. So everything is designed to be tumble stacked and instaled in the kiln with the support of other work, and use the atmosphere to create a glaze on the surface that harmonizes with my form and decoration. There is only glaze on the inside of the ware, a smooth, orange shino that was cooled VERRRRY slowly to give it a feel almost like plastic. the rest is just different clays and atmosphere. Clay with a high amount of silica and grog will attract soda more than clay without. Clay with iron will become metallic, and clay with manganese can get black and look like plastic (if you fire it properly) Porcelain typically has a low silica content, and will resist soda. The stoneware attracts it and because of varying thicknesses of porcelain in my brushwork, the marks ghost where there is a higher amount of soda and reveal several more colors in the halo around the marks. The cups and bowls had a "rolled lip" which is a thin form, with a lip that begins to go into the form. You are only putting your lips on the raw clay of these cups, the glaze is just past that edge on the top. The reason for this is so that my cups and bowls can be glazed and still stack in a kiln without any glaze touching anything else. The cups themselves get three kinds of variation this way. since the foot is dangling inside another form, it gets a saggar oxidation look, and keeps the insides of the cups free of any flying debris that could have made the surface that needs to be smooth and functional rough. The sides that are exposed to the fire get the windward and leeward surface decoration, which augments the porcelain brushwork mostly on the windward side. The "cold" side turns a bright orange and the brushwork becomes very subtle. These are usually stacked with a tall tumbler with no handle at the bottom, and two more coffee cups with or without handles stacked on top. These create grates or bars in my kiln and direct the fire across my plates, and sculptures. The "brick cup" is made in the form of a brick and acts as my extended bagwall and firevent. These stack on their side, and can even tumble stack on top of each other. They are just as functional as the round forms, and less of them can be made because of how they direct my firepath. The bowls, if wholly unglazed, stack in the kiln like they would on your shelf. If they are glazed, they stand on the lips of each other to make a globe, sometimes with a small cup saggar fired inside of the form to get a very, very light reduction. Dishes are a different matter. To keep the dining surface smooth, yet painterly there is no glaze. A separate planter or baker was made, and the dishes stacked upside down to pull the fire across the surface, and keep it relatively safe from flying matter that is neither soda or fire (like ash). This also ensures that the forms can only slump or sag in a way to maintain functionality if the get too much heat. The work was stamped with my name and date, as well as a big X that was made by making a mold of a blacksmith's chop from one of the nearby castles in Denmark. There is much more that can be explored here, but as of right now I do not have a woodkiln I can fire every week to keep experimenting. However I will be making a switch to oxidation and electric firing for a little while, to try doing something slightly different, yet in the exact same vein :P Ok so to run through as much information as possible with as little text as I can, HERE is where I posted my notes and plans for this collection of functional...