[Nfb-krafters-korner] puzzled about clay

Mon Sep 12 16:35:15 UTC 2011

Linda A and I get our fingers messy as we use them to place the brush on the 
object so the glaze gets right where we want it.
D
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Powers, Terry (NIH/OD/DEAS) [E]" <Terry.Powers at nih.gov>
To: "'List for blind crafters and artists'" <nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, September 12, 2011 6:06 AM
Subject: Re: [Nfb-krafters-korner] puzzled about clay


> 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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>> rg/cindy.zimmer%40nebraska.gov
>>>
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>
>
>
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