[Nfb-krafters-korner] puzzled about clay

Mon Sep 12 12:06:33 UTC 2011

Hi Linda and Cindy;
Thanks for the descriptions.  I can best grasp the idea of the bowls with leaves pressed in the clay.  The glaze I have seen was clear not colored.  I would think the bowl would be easier to make with pressed leaves and colored glaze than ever trying to paint the leaf on the bowl.  It was trying to paint a shape and knowing where your brush was at all times, with out sight.  
One year we made stained glass ornaments.  Craft stores have clear glass ornaments, where you can feal each section of the picture, like the stripes of a candy cane.  Even being able to feal the ridges, I had a bit of trouble keeping the paint even and in the ridges of the candy cane.   
Terry P.

-----Original Message-----
From: River Woman [mailto:riverwoman at zoominternet.net] 
Sent: Saturday, September 10, 2011 9:05 AM
To: List for blind crafters and artists
Subject: Re: [Nfb-krafters-korner] puzzled about clay

Thanks Cindy, really good comments.

I can give a few examples of exactly what we are talking about.  In my show that is up right now there is literally nothing that is made with an attempt to present an exact copy of anything anyone has ever seen.  What I portray in my own work, is the "essence" of a thing - not a picture of the thing itself.

Example 1:  Trees of the Water _ is the title of a group of tall cylindars that are all grouped together in the gallery.  A tree is tall, and rounded, and moves upwards from a base.  My _ Trees of the Water_ are all cylindars. 
Some have holes in them, some have bark-like exteriors, some have ruffled edges going down the whole "tree trunk."  They are all WHITE - every one of them.  I used different kinds of white glazes, so they are whites on whites - of course, no one has ever seen a tree that LOOKS like this.  But, everyone sees "trees" when they stand there looking at my group of tcylindars. This group is part of my "Rain Forest" area in my show - a group of tree trunks all mingled together like you are standing in a rain forest. 
It does not matter at all that I was in no way trying to make them look exactly like a tree trunk. No, I was trying to get a feeling of how trees are - their essence.

Example 2:  _Flowers of the Rain_  Once again, I have made a collection of hollow forms that I call "flowers" and in no way do they resemble any flower anyone has ever seen. Not at all.  They are small vessels, the tallest is only 7 inches high.  One of them is completely closed, like a flower pod before it blooms, or a flower pod that is left after the bloom has fallen off the branch. Others sit on small round bases, some on feet, and they literally flare upwards and around the top of them they are curved outward, fluted, and become very free form.  Do any of them look like a flower we have seen, no way! But, they DO what a flower does - it thrusts itself upwards, it forms a tight pod, it moves in space from a small beginning on a branch.  The colors - not at all flower like - lots of all whites, some midnight dark blue with bitter green banding around the top, some amber/greens.

Example 3:  Forest Spirit Plates:  Here, I am capturing a feeling of the forest. They are free form shapes, like plates and bowls, and I have pressed pine branches, twigs, flowers, leaves deep into the clay. I left those things there in the clay and it dried with them embedded there. The forms were fired - and the natural elements burn out leaving their images there in the clay. After that, I put underglazes on them in all sorts of colors. 
PINK, WHITE, CREAM, GREEN, Bright BLUE....the goal is these pieces is to get a FEELING of the SPIRIT of the forest but not really try to copy the forest.

So you see here, each thing I did was not a copy of anything, but was inspired by how that thing feels to me.
Anyone can do any of these things - no sight required for any of it, yet, they are more "real" than any copy would be because I was capturing the spirit of a thing and people can feel that spirit when they touch or look at the pieces.

Hope this helps. Blind people can do awesome things with CLAY!

Lynda River Woman
----- Original Message -----
From: "slerythema" <slerythema at gmail.com>
To: "'List for blind crafters and artists'" <nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, September 10, 2011 2:02 AM
Subject: Re: [Nfb-krafters-korner] puzzled about clay

> Terry,
>
> Just to expand a little on what Lynda is saying here and help you think
> outside of the box some.
>
> While you are concentrating on the literal approach of what an object 
> looks
> like, try to think about science fiction and fantasy authors. They 
> regularly
> create things that do not exist or only exist in a theoretical sense.
> However, they have imagined the details and bring the story world to life 
> so
> that we believe it.
>
> You can make your own pictures in your mind of how people look or how you
> want them to look and put your heart into it and that will make it a work 
> of
> art that everyone can appreciate. You won't create your inner vision the
> first time you learn how to work with new materials and it may take 100
> attempts before you achieve what "you" want it to look like, but when you
> do, others around you will be able to the see the beauty in the object, 
> too.
>
> Cindy S.
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nfb-krafters-korner-bounces at nfbnet.org
>> [mailto:nfb-krafters-korner-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
>> River Woman
>> Sent: Thursday, September 08, 2011 7:05 PM
>> To: List for blind crafters and artists
>> Subject: Re: [Nfb-krafters-korner] puzzled about clay
>>
>>
>> Hi Terry,
>> What interesting things you are bringing up. It will be fun
>> to explore these
>> issues together.  Remember that an artist presents the world
>> of her own
>> vision, not anyone elses. You will create YOUR world, and
>> present YOUR
>> world, not what anyone else does. You have a unique point of
>> view, no matter
>> the amount of actual vision. It is where you begin from - your self.
>>
>> My favorite poet Wm Carlos Williams said "An artist is always
>> and forever
>> painting only one thing ....himself."  This is what I mean.
>> You will work in
>> YOUR own way, to show YOUR world and it will be so much fun.
>>
>> I can tell you how I made intricate flowers and leaves on my
>> pots using
>> clay - I have a technique that works very well that I have
>> developed and use
>> in my work. You, too, will develop your own way of doing
>> things in time, as
>> you work at it.
>>
>> Do not worry at all about things you have never seen. Art is about
>> imagination - not copying things. It is about inventing and
>> dreaming up
>> things and then showing the world what YOU think, in that way.
>>
>> This is a great topic for discussion. I have a feeling we
>> will need two or
>> three discussion times to fully explore such questions after
>> we have talked
>> about the clay choices, and how to use that particular clay.
>> Should be fun
>> and interesting. Lynda River Woman
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Zimmer, Cindy" <cindy.zimmer at nebraska.gov>
>> To: "List for blind crafters and artists"
>> <nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Thursday, September 08, 2011 5:10 PM
>> Subject: Re: [Nfb-krafters-korner] puzzled about clay
>>
>>
>> >I will hold my response to this post for the discussion.
>> >
>> > Cindy Z.
>> >
>> > -----Original Message-----
>> > From: nfb-krafters-korner-bounces at nfbnet.org
>> > [mailto:nfb-krafters-korner-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
>> Of Powers, Terry
>> > (NIH/OD/DEAS) [E]
>> > Sent: Thursday, September 08, 2011 3:11 PM
>> > To: 'List for blind crafters and artists'
>> > Subject: [Nfb-krafters-korner] puzzled about clay
>> >
>> >
>> > If a person is totally blind, how can you paint the clay item? With
>> > knitting, crochet, plastic camvas..., you can feal what you
>> are doing, if
>> > you want a flower on the pot, how are you going to know how
>> it came out?
>> > How can you make a statue of an animal, if you never saw
>> that animal?  I
>> > know, if I tried to draw, the only things I could draw,
>> might be houses
>> > and maybe a barn.  Things with strait and slanted lines, no
>> features.  I
>> > might be able to make a flower, but a person, I could never
>> make.  I have
>> > never been able to see the features on a person, just the
>> color of their
>> > skin, hair and if they have glasses.  It could also be
>> because I have
>> > tunnel vision, that is why seing a whole word is a mistory
>> to me, too.
>> >
>> > Terry P.
>> >
>> >
>> > Theresa L. Powers (Terry)
>> > Grants Clerk
>> > Tobacco Control Research Branch
>> > NIH/NCI/DCCPS/BRP/TCRB/DEAS
>> > 6130 Executive Blvd, MSC 7337
>> > EPN 4039B
>> > Bethesda, MD 20892-7337
>> >
>> > Rockville, MD 20852-7337 (express mail)
>> >
>> > Phone: 301-496-8584
>> > FAX: 301-496-8675
>> > E-mail: terry.powers at nih.gov<mailto:terry.powers at nih.gov>
>> >
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
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>>
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