Stella Boothman Ceramics & Sculpture
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Blog - MA Ceramics

Could be Funghi, cells or plant structures & Beate Kuhn

28/7/2023

 
As part of my wish to explore creating forms from different types of clay I chose to use a red stoneware clay with a medium grog content from Valentine Clays. This is a strange clay to work with it feels lovely but doesn't have very much plasticity so I was worried about surface cracking during construction.

I knew I wanted to incorporate some rounded forms into the pieces I was developing and I was browsing the internet and came across the work of German ceramic artist Beate Kuhn (1927-2015)  and knew immediately that this was something I wanted to explore further. Kuhn's work is all wheel thrown but has a cell like, plant like strange quality to it and the pieces are all connected in some way. Her work also made me think of the work of Toni Losey whom I had met at the International Ceramics Festival in Aberystwyth. 

Please see research link for posts about Toni Losey

This idea of strange cell/plant/funghi/body like structures all connecting together seemed to align really well with my own interests so I began to explore ways of making my own pieces. I used several plaster formers to create slabs which I then allowed to firm up so they could be joined together, I also made coiled hemispheres so they could be joined together to create a whole. I ended up with a series of circular ellipse type structures and spheres of different sizes but then I got stuck.

Below are images of work by Beate Kuhn
Below are some images of my own piece in progress

Throwing on the wheel to create Closed forms

28/7/2023

 
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After discovering the work of Beate Kuhn and throwing the collars for the red fungal sculpture I wanted to try and throw some closed forms to see if these could be incorporated into my sculptural pieces. I watched several YouTube videos for guidance but really struggled to achieve the closed form, I could get the profile but couldn't pull up enough neck to close up the sphere. If I chose to pursue throwing spheres and closed forms I would need lots more practice. Am not discarding the idea of throwing but it's more likely that I will need to use it for creating connecting pieces rather than the forms, hand building gives me more scope for larger shapes and oval forms.

Picture

Surface Decoration

13/7/2023

 
I made the large coiled form from B17C stoneware, however when it’s fired it’s a very uninspiring off white colour so I decided to make a batch of porcelain slip and applied this to the piece to give an overall white surface. I had already decided that this form hadn’t turned out like I wanted it to, it was too bulky and wide and didn’t have the balance and form I was looking for so I treated the whole piece as an opportunity to have some fun experimenting with surface. 

I made marks in the surface using different tools nad then added coloured slips using a variety of brush work and mono-printing. I was really pleased how well the porcelain slip had worked with the B17C but I need to look at what to add to the coloured slips when monoprinting wiht them as the some of the slip broke off.

After the bisque fire I decided to repeat some of the painterly techniques I used during the greenware stage and keeping to the same colour palette of blue, orange and black I mixed up underglazes and added stains to white glaze to apply to the bisqued surface.

Below is the piece at greenware stage with the marks and slip application.

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Below is the piece after bisque with underglazes and glaze application. 

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    Stella Boothman
    ​BA Fine Art First Class

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