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.

MUSICAL SOULS

RAINSTICKS

CERAMICS II

clay, sawdust fire, acrylic paint, nail polish & metallic rubbing compounds

with added embellishments

The Ceramics I students are in awe of this assignment,

and know if they sign up for a second year,

they will most likely have to make a Rainstick.

It's a fairly difficult slab assignment because it's on a large scale,

and when it's said and done is required to make a lovely musical sound from within,

just like raindrops tinkling.

We start with Chloe Chang's elegant octopus.

Loving how she placed it's tentacles,

as if it had its hands are on it's hip for a bit of attitude.

She used the metallic rubs for a bit of color,

then balanced that with the same color neckpiece.

Next let me introduce wild and crazy junior Eugene Ho.

He bravely came back for a second year in Ceramics II after having taken it last in the 8th grade.

I never knew what Eugene had up his sleeve this year,

but it was always surprisingly out there!

We all loved his Rainstick.

So animated and full of life.

He's got this crazy surfing penguin with the wild hair

with fish swimming around the base.

Brilliant Eugene.

He chose to Sawdust Fire the piece then decorated it with nail polish for intense color.

Like I said,

he's a very brave soul! 

I believe I gave the kids the choice between Sawdust or Glaze Firing.

This year they all chose the Sawdust.

It'a a primitive firing technique used all over the world.

Done easily with an old oil drum, newspapers and sawdust.

This piece here is the work of junior Julia Ruiz.

Julia,

like Chloe and Eugene,

 had Ceramics I in the eighth grade.

All were anxious that they had forgotten all their skills and techniques they'd learned.

But here we have another global skill like I talk about all the time.

Once you learn to work with clay ,

you never lose it.

Julia sculpted this adorable Koala on top of a piece of bamboo for her design,

and after Sawdusting,

 painted with acrylics & embellished.

This last one was made by senior superstar Sarah Oh.

At first when you view it 

you have no idea it's a Rainstick until you pick it up and turn it upside down.

Sarah is known for her images of animals, fish and birds.

Here she incorporated a couple to design her piece with.

A close up to see both birds & details in the clay.

Everyone agreed that this piece was very like-like,

and belonged in a gallery.

It was one of last school years highlights at Open House.

We all cannot wait to see what Sarah will produce in Art School in Pasadena.

She will be attending Art Center of Design in the Fall.

Our hearts are with you Sarah.

LISTEN TO THE MUSIC

RAINSTICKS

CERAMICS II

clay, oxides, glazes, metallic rubbing compounds & nail polish

Let me introduce you to senior Sarah Chang,

my top most Ceramics student this year.

She recently finished one of her first projects of the year,

this delicate take on a rainstick.

Sarah was required to build her rainstick to at least 18 inches,

one of the tallest pieces she has made to this point.

Slab built with hundreds of tiny clay balls inside to provide the sound when you tip the stick.

As you will start to notice,

whenever I post one of Sarah's pieces this year,

she brings great sensitivity to whatever she produces.

She is developing a unique style and we all love it.

To finish off this piece she was required to bring other color to it 

in addition to the glazes and oxides.

She chose to rub her sweet little birds with metallics,

and she painted their beaks with nail polish.

She was also required to embellish it with at least two different media.

I adore her choices.  

They are so perfect.

Blue jay feathers from our cabin and recycled packing paper for the nest.

I'm so pleased to be able to share this for you Sarah.

IT'S RAINING CATS AND DOGS

RAINSTICKS

CERAMICS II

clay, glazes, oxides, ceramic watercolors, sawdust firing, & embellishments

I'm so excited to finally show off these amazing Rainsticks

 that my 2nd year clay students created.

They are simply marvelous.

The kids really got into the assignment and gave me everything they had.

Let's take a look.

Senior Sitara Puliyanda

(scale on this is about 30" tall)

It's all about the inside of the cylinders that make these sticks sound so magical.

Before they roll their slabs into a cylinder,

 they must attach short coils to the inside wall,

as well as make hundreds of very small clay balls.

Then they will roll those cylinders closed,

attach a base on the bottom and pour in their balls.

And finally attach another slab to close the top portion.

What is so interesting to me is how the kids figure out the physics of the placement of the coils.

Some put them in a straight line,

 others stagger them.

Sitara is planning such a large piece that she has to build hers in sections.

We see her piecing it together here.

Senior Celeste Zambrano is attaching her top piece.

And below we have seniors Klyne Madayag,

Efrain Quintero,

Eyrn Burnett and Celeste all finishing up.

The kids needed a lot of table space to construct these.

A close-up of Efrain putting on his final touches,

Below his finished sawdust fired piece.

He also brought in metallic rubbing compounds for accents along the arm.

Here is Klyne's finished Rainstick.

Note the castle walls at the top and the flag?

A bit hard to see due to the backdrop fabric.

If I remember correctly,

the kids felt that her's had the most beautiful sound as the balls came trickling down the tube.

Next is senior Sandhya Raghvan.

The surface of her cylinder came out so lovely and soft looking from the sawdust firing.

And I love the subtle movement throughout her cylinder.

She was looking for something special to put atop.

 I knew about this cool rock and gem store on the mountain,

so I bought several pretty hand blown marbles that she was able to chose from.

Here is Eyrn's Rainstick with her sweet butterfly on top.

The kids had the option to glaze or sawdust fire their sticks,

so Eryn first glazed hers then used nail polish to embellish with for a very cool look.

Here is Celeste's finished instrument.

I love that she incorporated nails into the side of her stick,

and that they got all charred from the firings.

And the spiders and webbing were the perfect accessories.

And lastly we come back to Sitara's Rainstick.

Honestly,

it was the most impressive for many reasons.

First off the scale. 

 It was almost larger then she was.  ha ha

And I adore the fact that the scale of the flowers are so much smaller then the piece itself

And the obvious,

 that she spent hours painstakingly painting on multiple glazes

 before we sent it thru the second firing. 

She also used wire to wrap around the stems of those tiny flowers on top of the stick

which I feel gives it a whimsical quality.

Some close-ups of all her labor.

If you are wondering if we have that many glaze colors,

we actually have 17,

 a goodly amount.

But we don't have red or purple,

 yet you are seeing them on Sitara's piece.

How she got those were with very expensive watercolors made for clay.

I get them at my clay supply place,

Aardvark Clay and Suppy in Santa Ana, Ca..

The kids brush them onto the bisqueware,

 then put transparent glaze over top.

Gives them more color choices but it is also very time consuming.

But as you can see,

totally worth the effort!

Let It Rain

 RAINSTICKS

CERAMICS II

clay, glaze, metallic rubbing compounds, & mixed media embellishments

We have been blessed with rain in California.

All our reservoirs and lakes are filling up,

and our air is crisp and clean.

I'd like to attribute it to  my Intermediate Ceramics students and their Rainsticks.

I'd like to start with a stick that was built last school year by senior James Cho.

For some reason, 

I forgot to post the sticks from last school year, 

but I remembered that one of our teachers had purchased James' stick and she let me borrow it.

It's so breathtakingly beautiful

 with the metallic rubbing compound he rubbed on the sawdust fired clay surface.

In addition he wrapped thin gold wire around the bamboo joints.

And I love the sweet frog on top.

Senior Cindy Ryoo in complete right brain mode

The kids start by building a tall slab cylinder that they can texture then thump and drag,

or they can choose to roll the clay out and have no texture.

Senior Yasmeen Pardo below has also chosen to marbleize her clay before rolling 

for a really pretty effect.

Note the stern face, 

I caught her off guard right in the middle of trying to repair a crack in her piece.

She was not a happy camper 

 LOL

This is what they look like on the inside.

Lots of coils for the clay balls to hit to make the magical musical sounds.

And then there is Maggie.

This rainstick was made by senior Nicolas Tudor.

Here's Maggie below getting her skin colors painted on.

What a cutie  :)

 

She patiently awaits her fate as I close the kiln lid.

She sits in front of Yasmeen's really tall stick.

They both are going thru their 2nd firing.

Here are the finished results.

Love the nails Yasmeen stuck into the side of her work, 

and the text she put on with nail polish.

Hope you can also see the marbling in the clay.

And here is Maggie in all her glory.

Can you find the pretty crystal necklace Nick has made and put around her neck?

He also added a foot on the bottom to keep her steady and standing.

He even carved out a little area and melted a bit of glass for added interest.

Senior Erin Hsiao has added the sweetest owl on top of her stick,

 and senior Ju Eun Lee has put a clay bird on top with real bird feathers surrounding.

Senior Sameera Ahmad has rubbed metallics around her lovely textured leaves,

and Cindy has glued on real twigs amongst the tree limps.

These kids are amazing, right???

Let them know, 

please send in your comments!!