Five pieces in the All Fired Up Exhibition

21 October 202421 October 2024 by Theo

The Hakatere Ceramics and Pottery Group’s annual exhibition, ‘All Fired Up’ is currently on at the ASA Short St Studio and I have five pieces in the exhibition.

Awards were given for hand and wheel categories for Novice – 0-3 years, Intermediate – 3-6 years and Open – 6 plus years experience. I received a runner-up award for my Blue Drip Bowl, a piece that I had thrown on the wheel. I find wheel work very challenging and so I was very pleased with this result.

I was not totally happy with the result of the first glaze firing of this bowl, so I used a rotary tool to remove the glaze I was not happy with. I then touched up the glaze and refired it.

Likewise, I did the same with these two vases. The original mandarin glaze on the inside of the vases was too weak and so these were reglazed with red.

All three of these vessels were still in the kiln when I left for a holiday two weeks before the exhibition opened so I am glad they all survived the extra firing and came out well.

*Tall Red & Brown Vase, hand built ceramic*

My experiments with extruding clay through a cookie press led me to create these squid figures.

*Squid with Big Yellow Eyes and Squid with Small Eyes, hand built ceramics*

This work is being exhibited in Hakatere Ceramics and Pottery Group’s 2024 All Fired Up Exhibition at the Ashburton Society of Arts Short St Studio, 53 Short St, Ashburton from 12-26 October 2024. Open daily 10am-3pm.

Have you seen this bird too?

5 July 202414 July 2024 by Theo

A stone carving of tarāpuka, the black-billed gull. This endangered bird was one of many that nested near the Ashburton Bridge during the summer of 2023-24. On Christmas Day, I photographed one of the birds and then later created some lino-cut prints. And then from the lino-cut print, created the stone carving.

I made one print onto some reclaimed Oamaru stone and then using that image, carved this sculpture of the gull out of the stone.

Have you seen this bird too?, Oamaru stone

I thought an alternative name for this sculpture could be Jonathan Limestone Seagull, but this species of gull does not appear to spend much time at sea. It prefers to nest on the braided rivers, but if there is a danger of flooding, they have been known to rest on farmland instead.

Have you seen this bird too?, Oamaru stone during the carving process

This work is being exhibited in the Ashburton Society of Arts 60th Annual Exhibition at the Ashburton Art Gallery from 1-26 July 2024.

Flatlas

4 July 202414 July 2024 by Theo

For several millennia, flat earthers have been without strong support for their worldview and now, finally Flatlas is here. The figure of Flatlas, a mythical cousin of Atlas, kneels on an orb and balances a flat earth map above his head.

Inspired by art history and ancient myths and legends, Flatlas, is constructed from air dried clay, painted with fake copper paint. Balanced precariously above his head is a hand etched and weathered real copper engraving of a world map. Flatlas is supported by a reclaimed wooden post and he sinks into a turned globe giving an inversion of the traditional Atlas sculpture.

Flatlas is being exhibited in the Ashburton Society of Arts 60th Annual Exhibition at Ashburton Art Gallery from 1-26 July 2024.

From the Earth

10 November 202321 October 2024 by Theo

I joined the Hakatere Ceramics and Pottery Club at the beginning of the year and I entered six pieces in their exhibition as well as creating and donating a tile for the group project.

You are here, Tile

My, You are here, tile is a reasonably accurate hand drawn scale map of the Ashburton District featuring State Highway 1 (red), State Highway 77 and State Highway 79 (yellow) as well as the major roads and rivers. It was created from a slab of Whitestone clay with the features inscribed and painted with oxides and underglazes and then fired with a clear glaze.

*You are here, Ceramic Tile, approx 200x200mm*

*You are here tile, before bisque firing*.

*Tiles, Hakatere Ceramics and Pottery Club group project in their From the Earth exhibition at Ashburton Art Gallery.*

Nest vessel

I squeezed clay through a cookie press to create fine coils and formed them into a nest shaped vessel. Colored with red, blue and yellow underglazes and fired with a clear glaze this pot won the Best Novice Hand Work in the exhibition.

*Nest vessel, after glazing and final firing.*

Blue vessel

My first attempt at creating a vessel on the wheel, this simple pot has a turquoise glaze.

*Bowl and blue vessel (right) after final firing.*

House of neglect

A slab work tower resembling a ruin decorated with black glaze.

Hexagon vase

A slab work hexagon shaped vase with oxides on the exterior and black glaze interior.

Flying pig money box

A functional sculpture of a hollow flying pig with a slot to accept coins. Coins can be retrieved through a hole on the underside covered with a ceramic stopper.

Ring

A fleur-de-lis extruded from a cookie press and joined to a coil of clay formed this large wearable ring fired with a black glaze.

The Hakatere Ceramics and Pottery Club’s exhibition “From the Earth” is at the Ashburton Art Gallery from 18 October to 19 November 2023.

Rock, Paper, Scissors

30 July 202330 July 2023 by Theo

I like making literal art. And with an abundance of scissors left over from Don’t Fly With Scissors and Don’t Run With Scissors, I created Rock, Paper, Scissors.

*Rock, Paper, Scissors, Rock/Paper/Scissors (approx 60x60x8cm)* *in Ashburton Art Gallery*

Creating the hand shapes representing the traditional Rock, Paper, Scissors game with paper and scissors was fairly straight forward, but carving the Rock and Scissors from rock was much more challenging and time consuming. The soft limestone Paper rock was deliberately used to give the softer look for Paper, but I sourced a couple of harder rocks from the river and chiselled away at them for Rock and Scissors.

Early in the carving process of rock Rock and Scissors

The rock Rock, Paper and Scissors are carved on all sides

*Rock, Paper, Scissors, Rock/Paper/Scissors (approx 60x60x8cm)*, top view

Exhibited

Rock, Paper, Scissors was entered in the Ashburton Society of Arts’ 59th Annual Exhibition and was available for sale at the Ashburton Art Gallery from 4-28 July 2023.

Did you know there was once a $20 million game of Rock, Paper, Scissors?

In 2005, a Japanese Corporation decided to auction their artworks and had the famous art auction houses compete for the privilege with a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. You can read about it on Artsy or listen to a podcast about it on 99% Invisible.

Pocket

13 July 202313 July 2023 by Theo

This year, I joined Hakatere Ceramics and Pottery Ashburton to learn more skills and make art with clay.

Pocket is a handwork piece that I formed after the noticing the canvas pattern left from rolling the clay. I carved the stitching and added clay for the stud features and after drying, I bisque fired the piece.

The club held a Raku Firing day and so I glazed Pocket with a copper glaze on the studs and another glaze I have forgotten the name of. Raku Firing is exciting. The work is heated to over 1000 ºC and then quickly removed from the hot kiln and placed into a combustible material and starved of oxygen to produce a myriad of colors in the glazes and black where the clay was unglazed. The results are often unexpected.

*Pocket, ceramic, approx 20 x 20 x 4 cm*

Pocket has been entered in the Ashburton Society of Arts’ 59th Annual Exhibition and is available for sale at the Ashburton Art Gallery from 4-28 July 2023.

Pocket (ceramic) at Ashburton Art Gallery

You’ve got mail

2 December 20222 December 2022 by Theo

Back in May, I built a mailbox for the Ashburton Society of Arts to save them the annual cost of a PO Box.

Postbox, front, reclaimed materials sculpture,

Constructed from the frame of an old microwave, pallet offcuts, a roasting dish and the rubber from an electrical cable the mailbox not only saves in the cost of new parts, but also saves these items from the landfill. The PVC tube is round on the front and rectangular on the back and was sculpted into this unique shape with heat. Painted postbox red, the mailbox is attached to the fence at the Art Society’s Gallery and Studio at 53 Short St, Ashburton.

The mailbox was entered in the 2022 Resene Upcycling Awards.

Non-flat Earth (#2)

4 July 202225 October 2022 by Theo

Non-flat Earth, papier-mâché, approx 50 x 50 x 50 cm

Myths and legends tell the story of a flat earth traveling through the heavens supported on the backs of elephants and a turtle. Same here, but with a roundish earth.

There are some conspiracy theories floating around suggesting that the Earth is flat. I have traveled around the world and observed that it is in fact round. Well, roundish.

Hindu mythology has the earth supported by elephants or a tortoise/turtle or both or a snake. North America has a legend of a ‘Great Turtle’, which upholds the Earth.

Combining the facts with the legends, I have recreated this model of the Earth. A Non-flat Earth is based on Non-flat Earth Unpainted, but with a hand made globe, in a different medium – papier-mâché, and painted this time.

The book of Job in the Bible says the Earth is suspended over nothing.

He spreads out the northern skies over empty space;
he suspends the earth over nothing.
Job 26:7. NIV

While this lines up with the science, my globe has to rely on the backs of elephants and a turtle for support.

Non-flat Earth was entered in the Ashburton Society of Arts 58th Annual Exhibition and could be viewed (and purchased $900) at the Ashburton Art Gallery from 5-29 July 2022.

Small Worlds

4 July 202225 October 2022 by Theo

Small World North

Small World South

Small World Stewart

With the recent pandemic and lockdowns travel globally has been limited. This has been hard on Kiwis who love to travel the globe and occasionally bump someone they know from home. They establish their common connections and exclaim “Small World!”.

And also during some of the travels of my life, I have met people who have not travelled very far from where they were born. Sometimes you hear of people who have spent their entire lives living and working on a bridge in a European or Asian city, or had never left the small village they were born in. Their worldview is often small.

These globes are for the travel-challenged.

Small World North, Small World South and Small World Stewart were entered in the Ashburton Society of Arts 58th Annual Exhibition and could be viewed (and purchased) at the Ashburton Art Gallery from 5-29 July 2022.

Tinfoil Hats : Fashionable headwear for the conspiracy theorists

30 October 202130 October 2021 by Theo

With the plethora of conspiracy theories floating around, perhaps you need a tinfoil hat to prevent mind control by governments, spies, or paranormal beings that employ ESP or the microwave auditory effect. While these hats might or might not offer this kind of protection, they at least are more fashionable than the proverbial tin foil hat which resembles a dunce cap.

9 Tinfoil Hats, Aluminium foil, 70 x 90 x 20 mm – 110 x 120 x 80 mm

More photos on Flickr

I tested the hats ability to block electromagnetic signals to my phone but they failed, mainly because the phone was larger than the hats, but it is likely that the thickness of the aluminium was not sufficient.