http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/306925136

Ceramic sculpture : inspiring techniques

Book Description: Clay is the oldest and most natural medium for sculpture. You can form monumental pieces one coil at a time, construct works with slabs, stack forms into totems, or even create works on the computer. For thousands of years, ceramic artists have molded, shaped, slabbed, tiled, pinched and coiled sculptures for themselves and posterity. In Ceramic Sculpture, creative clay artists reveal their techniques and their inspiration for imaginative sculptural works. Some of the work is monumental, some intimate, some site specific but all of it influenced by clay. With each artist providing some aspect of the sculptural process from conceptualization to forming and finishing to the final installation, you'll find the range of ideas and techniques informative and inspiring. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to just travel around to different artists studios to drop in and see what they're up to? Many artists are open to the idea, but they're spread all over the place. In Ceramic Sculpture: Inspiring Ideas you'll enjoy touring the country (and even the world) dropping in on artists where they tell their stories, explain their techniques and show examples of their work. For many people, there's a conflict between the world of high tech and the fine arts but Linda Mau realizes that everyone just wants to be creative. In her Mathematics as Metaphor series, she creates geometric forms from Paper Clay and Steel to produce striking forms. George McCauley communicates Life Experiences with his unconventional organization of objects, disturbing juxtapositions and fantastic extravagance. Fleshy figures cavort with a menagerie of barnyard animals, fish, a jumble of miniature cups and other pots. Montana sculptor Adrian Arleo lives in a spacious log house next to a wilderness area. Her Nature Studies reflect the natural environment in her human and animal forms along with a water colorist's palette. The Heads and Horses of Jean-Pierre Larocque prove that improvisation requires inspiration infused with intellect and executed with a clear mind and sure hand. Over the years, Larocque has developed one of the most distinctive styles in contemporary ceramic art. Not many sculptors invite their kids and their friends to go swimming but Kathy Venter wanted to photograph the human form jumping into, swimming, rising and floating in water for her terra cotta Immersion Series. The distinctive Lightweight Sculpture of Barbro Aberg are imbued with a life of their own. Using a body made from paper fiber, perlite and ball clay, her work is never devoid of content. Through Organic Abstraction, Gary Erickson examines complicated ideas about our lives, and creates a synthesis of form in which many meanings are both potential and present. His intensely textured surfaces are created with slips and glazes applied in layers. The Sculptural Vases of Eva Kwong illustrate how she enjoys bringing seemingly disparate forms and colors together, developing a visual complexity that contributes to the success of these pieces. Rapid Prototyping describes the harnessing of three domains of advanced digital technologies: 3D data acquisition, 3D form modeling and 3D printers. The 21st century has arrived and who knows where this technology will be in 50 years. Using the latest in thermal insulation technology, Nina Hole brings high-tech and primitive together with her Site-fired Kiln Sculpture. Influenced by the architecture in her native Denmark, Nina creates monumental sculptures fired in place. Dee Schaad uses his Figurative Soft-Slab Sculpture method for demonstrating both soft-slab construction and the forming method for punching clay to achieve form. You can go in almost any direction with his process.

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