'Clay Today: Contemporary Ceramists and Their Work'

'Clay Today: Contemporary Ceramists and Their Work':

- Conceptual art exists largely as an idea and largely in the moment
- Clay handled conceptually- not shaped or glazed or fired- against the traditional ceramic vocab
- Exhibitions devoted to unfired clay art
- Conceptual artists have worked with the ephemeral dust or dissolved wet mud
- Much claywork is a 'happening' but even happenings can be- must be- controlled
- The definition of Michelangelo- 'sculpture bisects, or in some way changes, space'

Glazing:
- Glazing adds another dimension of colour and yields a hard, dense, smooth surface that is easy to clean
- Fired glazes run the gamut from clear transparent, translucent or opaque glossy surfaces to stony, dull- surfaced matts- matt glazes tend to stay in one place whilst melting in the kiln
- Poured/ dipped/ brushed/ sponged/ sprayed- each application technique leaves its own mark- brush marks/ pour marks/ sponge marks etc.

Normal consistency:
- Run off fingernails as a long droll
- Some skin should be visible through the glaze coating on your hand
- Even coating of glaze best achieved by pouring and dipping
- Brush in several alternating coats- will blend more evenly
- Spraying= even coat
- Air bubbles can develop
- Metal oxides and stains can be mixed with water and applied by any means under or over unfired glaze resulting in underglaze and overglaze (majolica) decoration

- Clay is an art material that changes- never stays the same until after the final firing- not reveal itself until the final cooling
- Clay sculpture- stable/ mobile/ unfired/ fired
- Adjectives to attain- exciting/ dramatic/powerful
- 3D form- movement/ repetition/ contrast/ variety/ proportion
- Perceptions to communicate- soft/ hard/ light/ heavy/ fragile/ strong
- Might use clay as it does what other materials can not
- Maybe develop a patina- usually associated with wood firing

- Black/ dark brown matt glaze might get the effect I am after...