A LINA KIM UPDATE (see previous post)

                                         

                               Lina's Nude Torso from her senior year 2018- 2019 in Ceramics II

               

                Lina shot me an email today to say how much she enjoyed her post from 2 days ago.  

                                                  And here is her most recent yearly update. 

                                                     She has declared a Major in Sociology 

                                 concentrating on Law, Crime and Justice along a pre-law track. 

                                                                        Now get this, 

                                she is Minoring in Banking and Finance, Art History and English.

                                                                     Is Lina nuts?

                                                           Nope she is just that capable.

              Plus she will be headed over to the Cleveland Art Institute for more Ceramics classes!!!!!!

                Liz Ackert, she loved your comment but her mother says, "No, her pieces are not for sale".

                                          Sorry...if it was up to her she would gladly sell you a piece.

      What was striking to me is I haven't seen her in two years since she was a senior in my class,

                          and this is the first time I'm displaying her Nude Torso she made for me.

                 Then she sent me those pictures last year from her first semester at Chase Western

                    along with a newsy email of her life updates that still sounded so very youthful.

                                 But a year later, today, her email sounded so much more grown up.

                                                                I wonder if I'd recognize her?

                                                                      They grow up so fast.

                                   I look forward to next year's update Lina, and I wish you the very best.

                                                         You are going to be a busy girl, ha ha

                                                              Love you to the moon and back!

                                                        Now let's see more of that Nude Torso

                                                                                       

Lina's torso was so very tall that we could barely put the lid down, 

and I had 2 very large kilns. 

Also we were deathly scared it would tip over during the firing

 due to the shrinkage that occurs at 1800 degrees,

bisque firing temperature.

We were both on our tip toes as one of us held it in place 

while the other put those heavy posts all the way around it.

We were also scared of cracking;

that often occurs when you build a piece this large over several weeks 

due to the uneven shrinkage of the plastic clay as it dries out.

But we got lucky,

I believe there was just one tiny hairline crack.

But I could be wrong,

it's been 2 years after all.

Ha!

Here it is back into the kiln for it's glaze firing.

You can plainly see that Lina has layered and dripped 3 different glazes over the body,

then brushed on Cobalt Carbonate Oxide over the spikes so they would turn blue.

And it did.

Woo Hoo!

Sadly here you can see that the glaze and Cobalt mixture melted down thru the middle of torso 

and adhered her piece to the bottom of the kiln.

Yes, it was permanently stuck!

This happens frequently to all the students because glazing is a very tricky process.

If it's a tad too thick it will drool because we take the kiln up to 2500 degrees for this firing.

Glaze has a Silica base and it becomes completely molten at that temperature,

and when it's placed on a vertical surface

gravity takes over.

Look out! 

Lina had to masterfully chip away first to get it unstuck from the kiln shelf,

then even more skillfully chip the excess off the base of the torso.

In the process some of the base was also chipped away 

but miraculously it still stood without falling over,

 sort of.

The pix was taken leaning it against a wall,

just in case!

And some close-ups.

We were so thrilled it came out as well as it did.

Well,

 maybe it bothered Lina way more then me because she is a perfectionist.

I am too most of the time,

but this was such an incredible piece to begin with that the drool was only a minor detail for me.

I believe Lina glued the base down to a wood block when she brought it home for more stability.

I want to take this opportunity to once again thank my Art Assistant,

Alyssa Olea Morales,

for the wonderful pictures she shot for me.

Speaking of Alyssa,

I just wrote a letter of rec. for her application into Cal. State Fullerton's Teacher's Credential program.

Only one more year till she is officially a full blown Art Teacher.

Way to go Alyssa!!!

2019 ALUMNI LINA KIM

It's been a long while since I've posted any student art, 

and these pieces were created over a year ago and have been waiting for me to put up.

Sorry Lina for taking so long to get to them.

But I'm also thinking it was worth the wait because they are fabulous!

I adore the slit she built into the side of this torso.

And the beasts look so very natural which is extremely difficult to achieve in sculpture

as all my Ceramics II students have found out. 

Lina is at a small private research U in Cleveland, Ohio

 (my mother's hometown was Garfield Heights),

called Chase Western University where she is finding the classes engaging and fascinating.

All of these pieces were made in her first semester there.

I found it interesting that the professor took the kids out to a local farm

 to be able to do an open air raku firing for this piece.

How fun and very cool!

I think this next one is beyond remarkable for one so young.

What Lina,

19 years old?

You are such an old soul.

Lina told me this one took the longest of all the ones I'm sharing.

I can see why,

it's just lovely as well as being highly difficult to handbuild!

I also really like how you glazed it with the pinky-purple accents.

Was that an oxide brushed over the glaze?

This next one was the easiest she said made for a platter assignment.

Again,

I like how you glazed it with the overlapped turquoise. 

And this is Lina's second Rainstick.

She learned to make one in my Ceramics II class when she was a senior,

and she told me that both the other students as well as the professor

 were super impressed with this technique and the sound it made after firing.

Another very difficult piece to build,

but so worth the effort.

And this last one was the first piece she made at Chase.

The assignment was to build a stemmed vessel.

She added additional sculptural elements to the vessel which I bet pleased her professor.

The fluid waves create movement and forces the eye to circle around the pot.

You are an amazing designer and craftswoman Lina,

thank you for sharing these pieces and allowing me to post them.

I'm so very proud of you!!

Btw,

what's your major anyways??

Let us know, 

and please send more pix from your second semester.

EXPLORING THE HUMAN FORM

NUDE COIL FIGURE SCULPTURES

CERAMICS II

clay, glazes, oxides, ceramic pencil, & sawdust firing

I remember doing my first nude in my Ceramics I class when I was 16 years old.

Like my students,

my teacher,

Sally Foster Wilde,

gave us a choice between a male or female.

I choose a male and was completely in over my head.

She had us work in a  Reductive technique meaning we had to carve the figure from a block of clay.

That was my first time to do that as well.

The entire assignment was extremely difficult;

I remember my proportions were out of control,

and my craftsmanship was lacking.

And the only nudes I had seen were in art history books,

so those were my references.

But it was good for me to go thru this process.

I learned a lot about myself and my skill level,

as well as having to hang in there and push myself into something out of my comfort zone.

And even though it didn't look as good as some of the others in the class,

I was pretty proud of myself for having finished.

So as you view some of these works,

you may question why I put my students thru the same assignment.

You may also question if this is appropriate for a high school student.

(Most of my students who need nudes in their art portfolios for college 

have to go to outside art academies and pay for live models to work from).

Some of these might make you uncomfortable.

But I want to push these kids as I was pushed

 into a place they probably would never go on their own;

a risk that is too great.

It expands their minds and fine motor skills as well.

It's good for them and it's a part of life

as well as an art form to be studied and enjoyed.

And I save this assignment for my second level kids,

the ones who are going on in the arts and need this for their portfolios for college acceptance.

So are you  ready?

Here we go.

We start with junior Chloe Chang.

She picked the female form.

I asked the kids to work to at least 12 inches high,

most went over that.

I believe Chlo just made it to 12 " high but it ended up probably at least 20" wide.

There were several things I liked that Chloe did to her piece.

I love how she ended it with an organic lip,

and how she finished it off by applying Red Iron Oxide to her hand

 and stamping the form in various places.

You've got a nicely shaped behind as well Chlo.  :)

And do you see a bit of blue from the sawdust firing.

So cool.

That's very unusual.

My assistant and Alumni from 2012,

Alyssa Olea,

has been experimenting with different substances she is putting into these firings.

She is getting  interesting effects from salt, banana peels, cow dung, oxides, 

pine needles, newspaper and hay.

This next one was done by junior Eugene Ho. 

I believe that Eugene was able to get his to at least 18 inches high,

quite a feat.

He chose to do an older, slightly overweight male.

Love how he captured the sagging pectorals and the slight pouch of a belly.

And I felt the markings from the sawdust were gorgeous and striking.

Bravo Eugene. 

And then there was junior Julia Ruiz' piece.

A glorious male upper torso.

We all really loved how she glazed and decorated it. 

I'm pretty sure Julia was surprised at how well it turned out.

We were all so proud of her.

Next up was senior Sarah Oh.

Sara's piece was the smallest but looks larger here than it really was.

I'm guessing it was about 10" wide by 18" high.

All the other students started with much wider bases,

but Sarah started much smaller.

There is so much to love about Sara's female form.

The relaxed pose,

the ceramic pencil surface designs drawn onto either side,

the very realistic breast forms,

and how much of the body she built,

plus the asymmetrical ending at the top.

Just lovely Sara!

And check out the backside.

So fabulous, fluid and real.

You rocked this assignment Sarah.

We end with senior Ylia Madayag and her healthy looking male form.

It was quite an attention grabber at both Open House and Senior Awards Banquet nite,

as you might imagine,

but no one complained or protested.

I personally was holding my breath,

not sure what to expect of our parent community.

I was really proud of their openness, respect and acceptance of their children's work.

What I really liked about Ylia's piece was how it opened up at the top,

how she flared out the lip for such a pleasing ending.

I also thought the sawdust markings were quite lovely as well.

You are a brave young woman Ylia, 

and I'm so proud of you for giving this piece your all,

and not caving to all the teasing you got as you worked it out.

FROM STAR TO FINISH

COIL POT FIGURE SCULPTURES

CERAMICS II

clay, glazes, oxides, spray paint and acrylic paint

I'm extremely tardy in posting these incredible works by my intermediate clay kids.

Sorry guys....

but this is gonna be fun.

Enjoy!

What's truly amazing in this first 2 pix is the intensity these kids are putting into their work.

They have no idea I'm even taking their pictures  :)

As you can see senior Nicholas Tudor really got into the crafting of his piece,

and he's a proud papa when he finished.

I like that little leaf he added,

Nick liked something else.  LOL

Kids will be kids...

After Nick's piece came out of the first firing he chose to use spray paint as a finish 

and then to splash acrylic paints over top.

Next we have senior Yasmeen Pardo.

What I love about Yasmeen is she isn't afraid to take chances 

and do something completely different than her peers.

She has chosen to really abstract her form,

and to present it on it's arched back.

Also notice how she has designed the endings of the collarbone, shoulders and thighs.

She has actually ripped them instead of a typical smoothing.

As you can see,

Yasmeen like Nicholas was extremely proud of her finished work.

I feel this piece was one of the most important pieces done in clay this year.

Brilliant work Yasmeen!!

I adore the ribcage she built up 

and check out the staples she put into the sides.

Pretty darn cool,

right?

The glazing of the piece was also out of the ordinary.

First of all,

 she had to deal with the fact that her breasts blew off into several pieces during the firing.

So she thought to mix glaze with glue.

The glue to temporarily hold the pieces in place,

and the glaze to melt and fuse the pieces together during the 2nd firing.

Then she took her hands and coated them with red iron oxide 

and pressed them all around the form.

She also painted some glaze veins that dripped down the torso.

As you can she as she holds it for the photo,

the breasts held their place.

Bravo Yasmeen.

That was some serious critical thinking!

Next we have senior Erin Hsaio who managed to build one of the most glorious buttocks ever!

What I like about this pix is that you can really see the size coils they worked with,

and how huge these pieces were before they did all their shrinking.

Clay shrinks three times.

As it dries and becomes greenware, 

during the first bisque firing (1800 degrees), 

and then again during the 2nd glaze firing 2150 (degrees).

I really like how Erin ended the breasts,

and the contrast between the colors she used for her glaze finish.

More times than not these large pieces either crack or blow up during the first firing.

When building this big the clay is stressed to its max

and that's where the cracks come from.

When pieces blow off 

that's the result of air pockets when you attach one piece to another.

Senior Cindy Ryoo was going for a figure with some weight on it,

so she started off her base with some serious overhanging flesh.

She decided to build with pinched pieces of clay rather than the coils.

I'm fairly flexible and want my students to find their comfort zones as they work.

I adore how she finished the piece with multiple glazes that ran over each other during the firing.

I feel it really adds to the folds of flesh.

Looking into the inside was also quite a treat.

For some reason 

I don't have more pictures of the building of this next figure by senior Sameera,

although if you go back up to the very first shot you can see Sameera in the center of the photo.

She has built a beautifully full figured form,

and I find it very interesting how the glaze has broken consistently over the whole piece.

And lastly here is Ju Eun Lee working on her gorgeous form.

She also has chosen to build with pinch pieces instead of coils.

Right as Ju Eun was finishing her piece it began to rip apart

because the clay was having a hard time holding the top most weight.

She was clearly distressed,

I was delighted.

Sounds terrible, 

right?

I'm a firm believer in taking advantage of accidents 

and turning them into something even more interesting to the eye.

Taking your piece way further than you initially would have.

So I told Ju Eun to rip it more

and flare it it in a pleasing way.

She listened and I believe the form has more flow and movement.

This one was one of my favorites because of that.

She also glazed it in a very interesting way

and created diagonals that work with the movement of the form.

Another exceptional piece!