The Baby Metaphor – main bodies of work.

The narrative reflects some discontent regarding dog behaviour in my absence.

A larger version of the original baby, balanced to stand, which it does very well. In this picture it is still green with layers of terra sigalattas. It was fired in the gas kiln and came out brown, like a 'brown' pot.

Press-molds, embellished with decals, and wire inserted into hundreds of holes for little his and her wigs. These were selected by Janos Probstner for the ICS Collection!

Here is a small group of press molded and embellished babies, still green.

The Big Pink Baby became The Golden Boy - one of those surprises. During the wood/salt firing it was showered with much ash and not overly reduced, so the sigalattas shone through. I had thought they would be paler. Though the result is a beautiful surface - intent overcome by the fring? - lucky or unlucky ?

The baby was pivotal for my residency. This is the first mold, that Klari helped me to make. I made 3 more, one for press molds, and 2 more for casting.

I slipped this little piece, made in 2009, into my pocket - just before heading out to the airport....strange how these things transpire.

The babies from the press molds had a different affect than the cast babies. They became individual pieces as opposed to being an image for a metaphor, as the cast babies became.

These are very thin porcelain casts of the baby - absolutely translucent. Must find a way to set them up against the light.

In this photograph the value of the baby, as object, has changed. It is now an image, and belongs to the 2 dimensional realm. Now the image could be used for a silkscreen or as a decal to be placed on an object

This was my first large piece made at the ICS , and because of the small original baby, I decided to make a large baby instead of a female form. After this I concentrated on the baby as the foundation image for the residency. This picture ws taken while the piece was still green with layers of terra sigalattas drying on its surface.

Another attempt to incorporate baby and dog image. The intention is to have a seamless flow between the two . This photos was taken within the first 2 or 3 days of starting the piece. It is still soft and being worked on.

I made five large pieces - one of a kinds - quite separate from the molds and multiples. Working large is another way to become aquainted with the clay ad its properties. There is also the sheer pleasure of making a freestanding, single-minded piece. The surface has terra sigalattas from the Creaton clays used at the iCS, with a reversal of white in the creases, gas fired. This piece was chosen by Imre Schrammel and Janos Probstner for the ICS Collection.

This was where I was headed, and I simply ran out of time. This is an image of one arrangement where different casts and back-drops with architectural featuires - silk-screened or as decals, were put together in a scene or a narrative. The ICS provided the facilities to learn about mold making, silk-screening, and decal making. I want to use these processes to integrate figurative and architectural elements. This was the idea behind the Grant that I received from the BC Arts Council.