Friday, March 11, 2011

Installation exhibit

On March 3rd was the vernissage of this great exhibit uniting 18 ceramic artists.
It took place at the Musée de la Céramique du Haut-Richelieu, Québec,Canada.
A mature ceramic artist had to invite and introduce a younger one.
I was presented by Alain-Marie Tremblay a great ceramic artist from my town.



The exhibit is ongoing until April 24th.
For me it was a great experience to be pushed in with the big leagues. This exhibit along with
Carmen Abdallah and Alain-Marie Tremblay
background: one of his pieces

To see more about Alain-Marie's work and life, check out his site: www.betonique.com
Alain-Marie's encouragement inspired me to make an installation piece. Something I last did at University
more than 10 years ago. I usually only make functional ware. I could have presented some of my functional work, but I wanted to do something new for this exhibit. I let myself be inspired by some of Alain-Marie's work and the egyptian style mashrabeya (intricate carved patterns wooden windows). A hint of Egypt and a touch of local winter influence gave the result below.
The piece is consisted of a recycled wooden window frame on which I attached my crystal shapes with vine from my family's garden. The crystal shapes are made of stoneware coils and glazed at cone 6-9.
from the side
I had a lot of fun trying out different patterns with coils. My aim was to make a symmetrical shape without it being too straight. Again inspired by islamic patterns found all over the middle east that I find fascinating.  The light going through the piece and the creation of the shadow is the effect i was looking for.
VOILA.