Go Ceramics!

Don't Tap on the Glass this Kitty is Angry.

2012-01-05T00:28:00.000-08:00

Ken stripped of all inhibitions. He is ready for his winter solstice woodland salt spring bath in his local commune. Mother Mary is actually full of Holy water for handy everyday use against the Twilight saga. All these doo-dads are on my growing mold-making list.

Full installation view: GHP Faculty Show 2011. Honestly I would have preferred a few extra flowers and floating birds aloft. We can't all live the dream.

How does your poodle grow?

The stench of decaying birds sure makes my boudoir smell gamey!!

For ages 5+.

2011-02-19T16:01:00.000-08:00

Iron & Swine: A Duet Show:
Amanda Talbot and Jim Poulimas

Thomas Hunter Project Space

68th Street and Lexington Avenue
New York, New York

Tasting the many beefy delicacies. These kids are sick!

Pigs in a row ready to be cramped.

"Want Vs. Need"
(So true...give me some of that accessible beer any day over that caged up nutritional milk! Got to have your priorities)

Perfume bottles all in a row. Britney Spear's "Fantasy" eat your heart out! Mandy has a better product line then you ever will trailer park stardom queen. Some people just can't handle the pressure.

Nice lumber and metal work!

Call the board of education, the grade point average is down, down, down.

Arrangeable farm themed ceramic doo-dads. Don't be scared to touch the art work.

Smell the ham hock it's getting packed in here.

"Yes little Victoria, the baby cows are sleeping honey...not dead."

"Ok they might be dead, but that is just part of life. What's for dinner tonight Bob? Oh! I love veal!"

A wonderful show tucked in the depths of Hunter College, Mandy and Jim transformed the space into a smart, gorgeous sculptural extravaganza. Themes included consumerism, the shifty American educational system, a return to bliss through a simpler life farming the land , over-population, some down-right incredible metalwork (humans, owls, milk carriers), and product consumption. With an obsessive attention to detail, Mandy handmade her own plaster molds and cast and cleaned up hundreds of parts to develop her exhibition. Each mold is pulled from Coke, milk, beer, and perfume bottles as well as plastic animals, and farm-themed stained glass. Combined with Jim's highly refined metalwork this show knocks anyone's socks clean off!

http://www.poulimasiron.com

Beth Katleman: Folly

2011-01-28T21:29:00.000-08:00

Since the summer I have been working for Beth Katleman getting ready for her installation Folly in the Jane Hartsook Gallery at Greenwich House Pottery. From making molds of tiny ducklings, twisting and gluing wire for the hundred leaf arrangements, to de-seaming reindeer, flower girls, and little porcelain Arc de Triomphes, I learned a great deal. A generous, hilarious, and wonderful woman, Beth has been an absolute pleasure to work with in her Brooklyn studio near the metal scrapyard. Long before I came along for the final production Beth feverishly collected rubber toys from a bygone era, pencil sharpener souvenirs from around the world, and plastic trees to make molds for slip casting. Landscapes shaped by hand become an amphitheater for her bric-a-brac to interact in and do naughty things. If only Marie Antoinette were still around to commission an entire ballroom. (Someone call up Lady Gaga. She might spring for it.)

Take a look and enjoy!

The lovely lady herself on opening night.

The final result. Toile wallpaper meets cheap American ceramic cast offs.

Beth's curiosities.
(Only a small portion made it into the final installation! She has molds for days.)

Bins full of buildings and porcelain strawberries. A dream come true!

Milk maids in the bins awaiting epoxy and molding paste.

Getting it together after using a template to make two hundred nail holes in the wall!

The hungry sheep eying the flower-girl's floral spoils while babies tumble down the mountain.

Great fern.

A snail topped with an elf. A Christmas miracle!

Two friends (or lovers) too interested in one another to see the baby floating in the pond.
Is that a jealous girlfriend in the distance?

Playmobil pine trees and vintage owls.

Studio shot. Working out the arrangement.

Bird examining the bikini girl's dainty armpit. Smells like roses and tanning oil.

Swan attacking a quarrelsome, naughty snail at the Eiffel Tower.

Reindeer sniffing his friend while a bridesmaid looks on in wonderment.

The milk maid made in China! (Notice the milk droplets cascading off the edge.)

View with the pesky radiator and the blue evening light.

Nicki's beautiful alabaster skin and shocking fire engine red hair is to die for. What a great night!

www.bethkatleman.com

www.nytimes.com/2011/01/13/garden/13qna.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

*Several photos courtesy of Beth.

Slush City.

2011-01-28T19:51:00.000-08:00

Wintertime offers not only heinous sleeting in gale force wind, dirty slushed up sidewalks, and mounds of buried unpicked up trash neglected by the NYC sanitation department. But at least I have a chance to get some work done hidden away in a relatively warm and cozy studio! With no beach to sun at and no tank tops to wear outside I have been able to take on lots of freelance work in four out of five boroughs. I have launched full force into my epic woodland creature battle installation that will hopefully be on display at the resident artist show in the fall at Greenwich House. Quails ridden by freakish keepers will migrate through the grassy knolls and fight other monsters they meet in a scene riddled with violence, flora and fauna, and a giant merman in the sea. Insanity!

Here is a little photo walk-through of what I’ve been up to:

Doll parts mold. Get ready to rumble!

Vintage dolls ready to get Murphy Oil soap all over them.

Cat massacring a flock of birds (in process).

Rolling Rock bottle commission for some fancy unnamed famous artist.

Obscene poodle (which has a counterpart Poodle planter under it and more flowers on the wall)!

Will Coggin's fountain home decor urns.

Barbie centaur bringing on the Apocalypse.

Coffee tables grouted with a whole bunch of test tiles. (Who is that fine flannel clad man?)

Jack and Jill birthday present from Jamie. It is now a mold! Reproductions coming soon!

Unicorn!

My new friend lady Tarzan bric-a-brac. She traveled around with me in my pocket for a greater part of the month until someone mentioned that might not be proper behavior.

For scale.

Iron decal trasfer. Slip cast 99cent store frame. Fancy!

Woodland battle parts sharpening their teeth.

The luxury ceramics line. Next Prada, Chanel, and Lamborghini tea sets.

Porcelain river boat. Is that Huck Finn?

Devilish bird.

Stay tuned for the next episode.

Awwwwhht in Philly.

2010-07-01T18:04:00.000-07:00

A trip to Philly with unforeseen wonders: NCECA 2010

With the whirlwind of the National Council on Education for the Ceramics Arts conference long in the past, I finally found time to mull through the hundreds of ceramic objects housed on the camera chip. Set in the historic, quaint and surprisingly vibrant Philadelphia, PA, NCECA always promises socks paired with sandals, "funky, jazzy" jewelry in jewel tones, and lectures designed to lull anyone to sleep no matter how much coffee they drink. Notable high points included the amazingly laid out, organized Clay Studio offering residencies with ample working space, a show exclusively about hermaphrodites, cheap vegetarian General Tso's "chicken" on South Street, an acid wash puffy jean jacket purchased off the street for $1, and the Ben Franklin impersonators donning threadbare gray wigs flocked with tourists.

"Souvenirs" Kim Tucker (A wall full of little ceramic pieces with a lovely glazing touch!)

Unidentified piece. This is one of those things that "is so bad, it's good."

Kehinde Wiley's beautiful marble statue busts at a production studio downtown. Special place in my heart for this man. Nothing like a little modern spin on those dusty old museum objects.

"St. Francis of Adelaide", "After La Negresse, 1972", and "Louis XVI, the Sun King"

Resident show at the Clay Studio. Amy Santoferraro's whale in the background.
http://amysantoferraro.com/home.html

Ryan Kelly's insanity. Gorgeous!

Amy Santoferraro's magical collections:

Work the three tiered cup!

I'm scared of you! Ceramic cat stalking the window sill.

God Amy is so cute. I can't stand it!

Even the walls at the Clay Studio sport ceramic jewels and mirrored hallways. So lively and festive!

Benjamin Schulman "American Girl". How obscenely clever!

Grecian goddess with blow up swan.

Nothing like a little Adelaide Paul to keep you sufficiently grossed out. There is something so wrong about her stitched colored leather and taxidermy inspired work.

Meow! A set of "cups" bent on self promotion in the crammed cup show.

Janis Mars Wunderlich has always got my goat. A mother who manages to make time for her artistic career, she pumps out some of the strangest things I have ever seen.

Student show punk rock angst piece: Sara Hill, "Psycho For Your Love". I see nothing but promise for this girl. Love the graphic feel.

Thanks to Ms. Adrienne Pipitone for housing me during this trip and showing me the worlds beyond the great big city. Rent and life can be cheaper! Maybe one day I will make two hours south and relax a spell.

Real Live Hamptons Show!

2010-06-15T19:19:00.001-07:00

BODY: Exploration of the Human Figure In Clay

Curated by Matt Nolen

www.nolenstudios.com

June 11 - July 5th

Artists

elizabeth h levine
matt nolen
brad parsons
zena verda pesta
eve behar scotti
alice simpson

SURFACE LIBRARY Gallery
845 Springs Fireplace Road, E Hampton, NY 11937
631.291.9061
Hours: Thursday - Sunday, 1pm - 6pm

http://www.surfacelibrary.com/

"Unicorn" (Dedicated to and inspired by Lyla Barooti) 2010

Excited and overwhelmed I just recently attended the opening to a group show (that I’m in) at the Surface Library owned by Bob Bachler and James Kennedy. Both live the dream in their beautiful studio/gallery space away from the dusty city. Set in the vacationing Mecca of Long Island, East Hampton harbors heinously gorgeous beaches and designer shops along the downtown strip for every vacationer’s desire and impulse purse buying needs. I could not ask for more. The show looked incredible. All six artists fit extremely well together. My mom and my best friends trekked out 3 hours on the LIRR to see my first "real" gallery show. This is not a "one-night-only" affair in a bar room basement that I've become accustomed to. I'm grateful to Matt for all he has done and for including me in this show!

Travelling out to the fancy Hamptons with a Tupperware packed with crackers and cheese and gummy bears.

Sleeping off the night before in preparation.

Full of Greek diner food walking the spacious Hampton lawns.

Showing scale. Wish I had the same leg warmers.

I got all my height from my mom!

Starfish or magical glittery star??

"Dios mio....celoso!"

"Memorial-ette" (Dedicated to my late grandmother and all her ceramic antique keepsakes and bathroom full of mermaids.)

Manny's cheeks and my little pony.

¿Qué es eso?

"Fight" 2010

Materials include plumbing supplies, found ceramic bric a brac, fabric, doll parts, and glaze.

"The Quail Riders" (This only the beginning.)

Elizabeth Levine and her wall pieces...which get stranger and stranger.

Alice Simpson

Matt Nolen

Matt Nolen (Girl with an amazing thought bubble.)

Matt Nolen (notice the Egyptian paste detail on the inset.)

Don't feed the animals.

Blood cells by Eve Behar

Cut from the same cloth riding home.

Tired and strung out the beast attacks!

"Wow. I'll never be the same after my stint in the Hamptons!"

Local Side Street Attractions!

2010-03-25T11:07:00.000-07:00

Good Old Antiques In a Window.....

No matter how long a person lives in one great big city, something fresh and exciting pops up unexpectedly around a corner. Walking over to the West Village yesterday laden with bags (an unnecessary assortment including grocery bags, a colorful Mayan print man purse, and a knapsack), I turned down a side street around NYU and passed a window lush with antique ceramic gems. Save for the figurine section at the Met I have not seen this many inspiring pieces at one location in a long time. Way out in Queens a figurine shop near my house also holds many desirable treasures, but not at this immense scale or price tag. (Think of pastel colored figurines for 3 easy installments of $19.95 from an advertisement in the back of Parade magazine). This collection looks, and is, expensive. A mini museum stretching deep into the next block, I wish I noted the address to go back during shop hours and spend the day (without thrashing anything like a bull in a china shop).

Fierce jacket. Work that ruffle cuff and floral print.

This piece could have a little more attention to detail...it is a little plain.

A perfect statuette for any bridal registry. A very subtle bust for a man or woman cave (den).

America's next top model rough riding wilderness edition with a stag and falcon.

Got some STUFF in here!

Not available at Target.com.

Every real man needs a purple cape.

Cool Things I Saw In the Bahamas

2010-03-15T22:30:00.000-07:00

Running Around the Island.

Eating this snapper was a horrifying experience akin to dissecting sheep eyes in middle school science class (and then consuming them). Despite nearly throwing up the local beer all over it after pulling bones and tough connective tissue out from between my teeth, it was a sight to see. I honestly loved the grisly presentation. Apparently the eyes are edible.

Arjuna Watson http://www.decypul.com/

Some wonderful selections from the souvenir shop (which I resisted purchasing). This image is plastered on any possible ceramic object you can dream up from piggy banks to salt and pepper shakers.

The colors could be a little more cheerful.

A ceramic tile gem among the ruins.

Cool Things I Saw This Month

2010-03-15T21:37:00.000-07:00

Running Around The Pottery.

As the yearly benefit sale fast approaches, I decided to whip up a few new creatures (about a dozen saintly and Kewpie doll inspired tea light holders). Perfect for any home office or man cave shelf next to several dozen back issues of Sports Illustrated, these tea light holders are timeless and tasteful. Appropriate for both the young and old they will not only be an excellent "conversation piece", but a possible heirloom to be passed on.

These dolls, shown in process, will be part of a greater depiction of Hell. They will be given voodoo doll like stitched, fetishistic bodies (most likely done on the train trying not to stab the person next to me with a sewing needle on the way to work). Enclosed in a sinister red plastic clock frame picked off the curb, the numerous bodies will be intertwined under the watchful gaze of a larger goat Satan/human doll.

Pastel cupcakes artfully placed on a makeshift shelf made from a ladder.

An artist in residence, Nicki, knows her way around a slip trailer with her beautiful flamingo and floral designs (which look like frosting). One day I hope to drink coffee out of one.

Will, another artist in residence made an insane sculptural pot. It looks like a scary piece of machinery that could inflict bodily harm when compared to earlier thrown work.

The lovely Susannah brings a little fresh air to get you through the winter months with her delicate woodland creatures.

Whittney's Dolly Parton decorative item (soon to be a broach?) brings a smile to your face.

An anonymous woman's reinterpretation of Dracula in clay is by far the coolest thing I've seen this month! Carefully constructed and painstakingly painted, this is only a glimpse into her many recreations of the horror classic.

Where It All Began: Ceramic Origins

2010-01-31T22:38:00.000-08:00

Where It All Began: Ceramic Origins

At an ungodly late hour last week I decided to go rifling through an old box packed with photos. Under crinkled photographs of my parents from their teenage yearbook and pictures of old high school girlfriends wearing dated outfits (namely flannel button down shirts and khaki cargo "raver" pants), their lay documentation of my first ceramic sculpture.

Years after the India ink faux Southwest Native American coil pots from elementary school and the thousands of polymer clay beads cooked up in the oven, this feat occurred in eighth grade under the guidance of Ms. Brinza (who I have lost track of).

My little brother posing with the finished work to provide a scale reference.

Beyond the scale allowed for by a typical public school art room table top I remember having to complete this piece crouched in the metal cage designed to lock up valuable toxic supplies and the small top-loading electric kiln. In fact, the kiln could not handle the two and half feet of the sculpture, requiring that I slice it into two sections. Armed with a disc man and an unnecessary collection of teen angst ridden horrifying Ani Difranco CDs, I coil built this now seemingly small creature over the course of eight class periods and numerous after school sessions.

That following summer I traveled out to western Massachusetts to a month long art camp, Horizons, to study ceramics and glass-blowing (still armed with those embarrassing Ani Difranco CDs which were very popular out there at the time.) After a camper knocked the side of the molten glory hole with her glass blowing tool and almost went blind getting hot glass shards in her eye, I decided glass blowing was not the right medium. I managed to sear my eyebrows and eyelashes off hovering over the raku kiln though. I also went to the hospital for a painful pressure bruise after running full on into a wooden fence rail. The awkward years are expectedly full of careless accidents.

During the early morning ceramics class I learned how to make a press mold from a teacher, Cathy Saliba , who sculpts giant, thin textured ceramic towers and then burns human hair onto them to provide a distinct surface treatment. (http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka/gallery/student%20work/cathy_saliba2.htm)

After plunging a Buddha head into clay and firing the new press mold I overzealously went with it. Covering everything I made with tiny heads, the resulting Buddha head covered tombstones ended up in my first show at the public library. To this day I have hundreds of head beads living under my bed waiting to be sold.

An "Easter altar" I put together every year on the mantelpiece during this time period.

Collections

2010-01-19T00:08:00.000-08:00

Collections!

Private collections of decorative personal artifacts, miscellaneous tokens, memorabilia, useless junk, cheap ornaments, and unknown treasures: bric-a-brac covers corner shelves, bookcases, window sills, and any unclaimed surface in a home. Special manufacturers produce glass display cases, domes, and light boxes specifically designed to showcase these items (which are most often ceramic-related and monetarily worthless!)

The following photographs document several of my favorite collections of crap and treasured keepsakes (including my own).

$1 Stores: A great place to start looking. (But not for personal skin care products because that will make anyone break out in a nasty rash and get a wicked allergist bill!)

Check out thrift store shelves down low. Who could resist purchasing a chained porcelain poodle?

Or win some junk that will haunt your junk drawer forever at the arcade.

For $69.95 a keen shopper could treasure these (completely politically correct) figurines from the luxury section of Toys R Us.

A graceful figurine found at the Met.

Stuffed bird guarding the gateway to the adult section in a Cape tourist all purpose shop.

A subtle and gorgeous faux china painted lamp.

Another subtle piece in any sensible person's home decor. Preferably right next to the bedside for easy access.

A small window sill cup by Janis Mars Wunderlich (a wonderful ceramic artist)who makes scary work about being a mother: http://www.janismarswunderlich.com).

Another ceramic jewel on a window sill.

Frida inspired store in Boston.

Day of the Dead figurines...always tempting.

A hundred part slip cast figurine.

Anonymous couple down in Provincetown who inundated their home with thousands of mementos and antiques:

Snippets from Emily's precious items strewn about her Chicago home. Notice her owl obsession.

And finally, my own insane collection which is ever-growing:

Upper Crust

2010-01-14T10:07:00.000-08:00

Pizza Party...

Ally eying some serious sauce.

My nephew enjoying some New York Style thin crust coupled with a soda the size of his head (which he drank and then went insane.)

After pizza high. (The kids grows like a plant. He ate at least three slices.)

Upper Crust Watershed Benefit May 2009

Held in the Barry Friedman Gallery in Chelsea last year, the exciting Watershed Benefit was host to live musical and comedy entertainment and a fine dining pizza experience. Each guest received a gorgeous Matt Nolen hand-crafted individual slice pizza plate as a take-a-way! Each plate houses a screen printed image of one of New York's memorable upper crust or high society such as Ivana Trump (with all that hair), the glamorous and chic Jackie O, Leona Helmsley (who left a whole fortune to her pet dog), or Mrs. Astor (the original First Lady of New York).

For the auction I decorated a "pie" to be sold to the highest bidder. Each lovely lady exposes one of their most memorable thoughts or sayings in a royal gold glaze thought bubble. Complete with layers and layers of glaze material and an oxide wash striped border, the finished pie (with pizza on it ) would be wonderful at anyone's intimate pizza party!

Joy Behar from ABC's the View hosted the evening!

For more information check here:

http://www.watershedceramics.org/events.php#pizza

And yes, it's happening again this year. Upper Crust 2010 coming up in May. Get ready!

Upper Crust photos courtesy of Matt Nolen. (http://www.nolenstudios.com/)

Trios of Domestic Keepsakes!

2010-01-10T19:07:00.001-08:00

Ménage à trois!

Three mangled domestic keepsakes on a gorgeous wood turned mahogany base by Stuart Wright.

A collection sporting this season's Dorothy chic slippers right off the catwalk.

Yes, that is a real crab claw.

Sewn cloth arms, sponge, synthetic weave hair (blond and brown), and ceramic.

The white crawl glaze looks really good over that awful wine red shop glaze.

Giants (Senior Thesis)

2010-01-09T10:33:00.000-08:00

Housed within my overcrowded living room as sectional spider plant stands, these giant life-size monsters were part of a senior thesis back in 2007 at Pratt Institute as well as a Brooklyn Art Collective show at the Pochron Studio Gallery next to the Manhattan Bridge. Upon moving to Queens the new neighbors commented, "You just moved in and already you're bringing in the dead bodies!" The sculptures were wrapped in a nasty old foam mattress pad and essentially looked like cadavers. I'm glad no one called the cops.

Cellulite

Dreaming of the domestic pastoral lifestyle?

These giants are covered with little old lady floral decals, enamel paints, and pretty much every single type of ceramic glaze application possible (glitter nail polish not included). Unfortunately in a naive state of mind I thought if a surface was packed with enough personally volatile emotionally charged imagery it would amount to something spectacular. The result is a jumble of things that do not work altogether toward a cohesive sculpture. But oh well. Post projects have been far more focused and less teenager angst ridden and messy.

Hot Boys from the "college days".

Angst! Shedding tears for infidelity. (How melodramatic.)A photo taken after being bitten.

"The Destroyer"

The pair went through an insane number of firings and have been trucked all around the boroughs an unnecessary number of times. Now I am stuck living with them and have structured my life around never moving again so they won't have to be transported or destroyed. If you want to give them a new happy home basically free of charge that would be awesome.

Skulls!

2010-01-08T19:05:00.000-08:00

Memorial Statuette

2010-01-08T18:35:00.000-08:00

As a young flowery child I frequently visited my grandmother at her house on a lake. Undeniably chic with pink pill box hats and matching pencil skirts, she was a ravenous antique collector. I would make up stories to explain the decorative plates hung on high, construct imaginary arks full of the hundreds of Wade miniature animals, and sincerely wish I could be transported into the realm inhabited by the ceramic mermaid in the bathroom. She always knew what each of her grandchildren enjoyed the most, and for me, that was peanut M&Ms, tuna melts, and dolls. This following piece, memorial statuette, is about nostalgic feelings for the un-muddied past, reinterpreted domestic keepsakes, and the seedy, violent underbelly of the true human experience.

Eat Clay or Die!

2009-12-20T11:01:00.000-08:00

Eat Clay or Die! at Greenwich House Pottery May 2009.

Co-curated by Susannah Tisue and Michele Quan.

http://greenwichhouse.org/news-events/news/eat-clay-or-die

A selection from the candy shop.

"Napoleon the Conquerer" by Louise Hoffman

Unknown Artist (But this pairing is in my favorite top three in the show! I love the green men popping out of the pastries.)

This lovely "sweets" inspired show transforms the historic storefront of GHP into a bakeshop made entirely out of clay. Colorful, oversized deadly resin-coated ceramic candies overflow from a scalloped dish by Jackie Rines. Susannah Tisue's gorgeous three tiered cake harbors three distinct worlds within each layer lit up by LED lights. Blood red hearts neatly displayed on a delicate cake dish, bees swarming cupcake frosting, melted popsicles, and a Napoleon pastry alluding to the world conqueror reveal a darker, seedier, more violent side to a seemingly sweet experience.

Cake by Susannah Tisue

"Miracle Toast" by Suzy Goodelman (Price: $28,000 or best offer over $10)

Jars of real candy mixed in for authenticity.

My contribution of bakeshop countertop figurines titled "Hungry" falls into a morbid vein with Twizzler like candy intestines spilling from a candy striped skeleton doll caught between two dueling, starving creatures looking for a sweet snack.

Even the demure, reserved "Candy Dish" contructed with a repeating iconic saint offers only candy skulls.