Kathleen Rabe Final Blog

Projects:

• manipulations project, 40 sculptures using 10 lbs of clay + 4 8x8" drawing
• Blog while you have lunch
• look at 40 sculptures and critique of drawing.
• Cut up drawings at contour lines, make 4 small sculptures using those contours.
• 1/2 pound in-class 3 hour sculpture
• Higby demo on coil building a large form
• make 4X scale sculpture using one of the 4 small contour sculptures
• Higby demo on making tools for/applying surface decoration using black/white slip
• making tools for and decorating the large contour sculpture using black and white slip
• 4 drawings of finished sculpture
• critique on large contour sculpture
• Hibgy demo on no slabroller slab technique, and demo on how to build the "perfect" box
• build a perfect box using measurements from your body
• build a sculpture that "contextualizes" 10 of the 40 objects from the manipulation project
• glaze demo
• glaze box, contextualize project and 10 sculptures
• build a pedestal for perfect box that either makes it look lighter or heavier
• bring in an organic and a manufactured object
• combine the two idea's to make one unified object (solid)
• Mahlon demo on cutting object to make mold
• cut up object to make a press mold
• make a press mold
• press mold 8 objects identical to the first, and 2 more in any form
• glaze one each: black, white, color. Room temp surface one, leave on bisque, glaze two for Raku
• Raku saturday
• Final assignment: Project Phoenix + final blog

Videos + other:

• Louise Nevelson
• Isamu Noguchi
• Maya Lin
• Mahlon's work
• Higby's work

Worst moment:

When Higby demonstrated his slab rolling technique I thought, "Wow, that's really great. It builds a stronger slab and I don't have to buy a crazy expensive slab roller".. then I tried it and realized it takes a very long time. I decided to roll my slabs, and about 4 days in to making my sculpture and constantly babysitting it, it collapsed (Que: Worst Moment). I could have salvaged it, but why? It was bad, it would have been a waste of clay. So Sunday afternoon about 2o hours before it was due I started over using Higby's slab technique. I finished by 2 am and the thing was a beast, it wasn't about to collapse. The situation ended alight, but it took me way longer then it should have.. lesson learned: Just follow directions. And for the umpteenth time in my life: You're not going to defy gravity.

Best Moment:

On the same sculpture we were to decorate the surface with a pattern using black and white slip. Decorating with pattern is something that has never appealed to me, and so at first I was hesitant. I convinced myself pretty quickly to lose whatever preciousness I had given my sculpture and to just do the assignment. The result was wholly inspiring. Letting go of whatever preconceived notions I had about what the surface of a sculpture should look like and just playing around with shape and color gave opportunity for new things to happen. The best advice I was given all semester (or perhaps my life as it pertains so perfectly to me) was "You can only imagine what you already know, and if you only make what you imagine then you will never do anything new".