Sunday, February 22, 2009

Yard Art

Top "fortress", with Japanese architecture as an influence.
Close up of the trees and into the courtyard.

This is one of the first ceramic projects I did in North Carolina. I took a class at LSU in 1979 where we learned to throw on kick wheels, mix our own clay in a big dough mixer and create basic forms. After my children got in school and I had a flexible work schedule, I enrolled for some classes at the local community college in our town in NC. After a painting class, I signed up for a sculpture class. I had found this large rock and wanted to incorporate it into a piece, deciding to use clay to create a top and bottom for it. This rock is heavy. REALLY HEAVY. Keith Lambert was the instructor and he assisted me in the attachment of the pieces with portland cement, and lifting the rock into place atop the base. After completion, it stayed in our house for about 5 years, then I decided to move it outside. The original wooden platform eventually rotted, and I moved it this spring out into a natural area in the backyard.
Hope you take a look at the link above. Keith and his wife, Willi, are gifted artists. I was incredibly lucky to get back into pottery when he was in charge of the program at Gaston College and be inspired by his vitality and exuberance for the medium. I admire Keith's willingness to encourage a novice in sculpture and ceramics to think big!



2 comments:

Circle of Eight said...

Hey that's totally cool. Good to see what Keith has been up to also. Thank you for donating to the Bowling for $. We had a great turnout.

Ron said...

oops that was me...ron