THE WORRIED MAN, another individual piece in my “Hooded Figures” series, gets its title from the expression on its face and from a line (“It takes a worried man…”) in a Kingston Trio song that happened to be playing when I was finishing it. Just seemed appropriate. Hand built and raku fired paper clay. 7” x 3” 2 ½”.
CHRYSTALIS, hand built with extruded elements from stoneware and raku fired, gets its title from the combination of two words: chrysalis and crystal. Normally used in reference to one of the life stages of a butterfly, the definition of chrysalis includes “anything in a formative or undeveloped state” a concept represented here by the dark, rough textured, unglazed and amorphous base portion of CHRYSTALIS. In contrast, the top portion, the crystals, is highly formed, smooth, geometrically shaped, glazed and glossy. CHRYSTALIS is all about combining these two disparate concepts in a single image (and then successfully firing it). 7 ½ “ x 10” x 8 ½”
THE BOYS IN THE HOODS is part of my summer exploration of “Hooded Figures” but was intended to be an ensemble piece from the beginning. As an ensemble piece, it also differs from the individual figures such as WATCHER OF THE NIGHT, by having been titled before completion and perhaps being a little more light-hearted. It’s a piece I spoke to rather than the other way around. Hand built and raku fired paper clay mounted on MDF. 6” x 9 ½” x 4”
HARBINGER, the third individual piece in the Hooded Figure series, like WATCHER OF THE NIGHT and PROPHET, was titled after completion. To me there is an ambiguity to the piece, an awareness that something is going to happen, but an uncertainty of what that will be. A harbinger may presage good or ill, hence the title. Hand built and raku fired paper clay. 7 ½” x 4” x 3
In the Aztec religion Xolotl was a powerful and fearsome figure, the twin to Quetzalcoatl and Lord of the West who guarded the Sun as it journeyed through the night. My XOLOTL, while inspired by the Aztec deity, cannot be described as “fearsome”, unless, of course, you happen to be terrified of garden gnomes. Hand built of paper clay, glazed and fired to Cone 6. 8 ½” x 5” x 4”.
BLOOD SACRIFICE, the third in the STONEHENGE DECONSTRUCTED Series posits a different and darker interpretation than the celebratory themes of the first two, WINTER SOLSTICE and VERNAL EQUINOX, that Stonehenge was not always a place of joyous welcome. In BLOOD SACRIFICE the palette is darker and the shapes curve inward and down. Hand built and raku fired paper clay. 7” W/D x 9”H.
When I started the MASK Series the pieces were generic and conceptual, more an investigation into the cultural universality of Masks than an expression of any particular idea; I wasn’t doing commentary, just having some fun with paper clay and Raku. However, things evolve, and the more recent ones, such as MASK #9: THE GOLDEN YEARS, through the facial expressions and palette do try to say something. Technically, MASK #9: THE GOLDEN YEARS is a mixed media piece combining hand built and raku fired paper clay with glass beads for the eyes. Wall hung, 9” x 7” x 2 ½’.
I’ve never really understood the “sport” of trophy hunting, particularly when the “trophy” is not something capable of hunting you back. For food or fur, okay, but just for a head to hang on a wall? Having said that, TROPHY: THE LAST RED-CRESTED WATCHAMACALLIT represents my first, and probably last, venture into the art of trophy gathering of endangered species. TROPHY: THE LAST RED-CRESTED WATCHAMACALLIT is a mosaic/mixed media wall hanging composed of glass, hand built paper clay, marbles and MDF. 12”H x 7 ½”W x 10”D
BILLIE BOB and SALLIE MAE, a pair of expressive but not particularly scary monstrous creatures, like the others in THE SLITHERTHINGS Series, are not based on anyone or anything in particular, but more the result of free time, idle hands, a small block of clay and a badly warped sense of humor. Hand built and Raku fired paper clay. 5”H x 6 or 7” depending on positioning.
John Fansmith 