Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Recent Ceramics work from Sydney College of the Arts





This work is made up of about 40-50 small thrown and carved piece
s that were raku fired. Each piece is made up of its own small composition of forms. The individual pieces can be balanced on one another precariously and can form innumerable different compositions and shapes. People have seen many different forms in these pieces, including coral, native plants charred by a bush fire, and dancers. Jan Guy said the pieces looked Baroque in their excess. I think this work functions successfully because it cannot be defined by one thing; instead it references many things simultaneously and fluidly as the composition changes. I prefer to balance pieces rather than adhering them because this leaves the potential for change at any moment, thus creating tension in the piece (as different forms can fall --and did fall a few times, due to wind).

Research: Artist Websites and Self-Publishing

Today’s era of online self-publishing has provided artists with a new platform for discussing and displaying their work, networking and promoting themselves. Websites allow artists to post their artist statements, bibliographies, art works and ideas. They are able to sell their work and promote themselves without relying on galleries. They challenge the more traditional elitist system of gallery representation for artists, making self-promotion and self-publication affordable and available to everyone, opening up the previously exclusive world of art publication to the general public.

The Australian Business Arts Foundation has published a document entitled “Business Skills for Visual Artists” which gives an overview highlighting three major types of online sites where artists can promote their work. The first type of website is called a Template site, which allows artists to update the site and provides some flexibility in the appearance of an individual’s website. Using the Template, artists can add images and biographies, as well as organizing mailing and stock listings (Australia Business Arts Foundation). Here are three examples of Template sites for artists:

www.arthives.com

www.foliolink.com

http://www.homestead.com/

The second type of website for artists is called an Artist Community site. These sites are usually designed and operated by artists, for artists, at little to no cost. Community sites are used for networking with other artists, as users may upload their work, write about their ideas in a blog, and/or post their biography and artist statement (Australia Business Arts Foundation). Artist Community sites encourage interaction and mutual feedback between artists who use the site. These sites are focused on networking and collaboration between artists rather than on buying and selling work (although prices may be listed). These websites often take the form of .org and .net organizations and networks rather than .com commercial sites. Here are three examples of Artist Community sites:

www.artistsites.org

http://www.visualarts.net.au/gallery

www.salafestival.com

The third type of artist-based website is a Portal site. These are commercial sites focused on connecting art makers and art buyers, allowing both groups to search for artworks. These sites charge fees for artists to exhibit their work on a search network. These sites may also connect users to other art-related products and services such as framers (Australia Business Arts Foundation). These sites constitute a commercially based network of web pages designed to connect the galleries, buyers and makers to promote business transactions, unlike Artist Community sites which enable artists to discuss their work and form social networks with each other. Following are examples of Portal sites:

www.artsconnect.com.au

http://www.artwhatson.com.au/

The advent of digital photography made it possible for anyone and everyone to take photos and upload them to the internet, achieving results that previously could only have been created by professionals. Likewise, the creation of websites has made it possible for artists themselves to take on some of the functions once performed only by gallery owners. Although there are numerous benefits for artists using websites to post their work – including the opportunity to network with others in the industry, as well ways to promote themselves — it can be argued that the wide accessibility of such sites has diluted the market, since anyone and everyone can create blogs or online gallery spaces. While the traditional process of selecting only a few artists’ work for gallery exhibitions has had the effect of creating an elitist marketplace, barring many artists from finding a wider audience for their work, there is a formal selection process in place that purports to screen for quality. By contrast, the current proliferation of artists’ websites has reduced the overall quality of work displayed online, therefore undermining the credibility of this format.


Bibliography:

Australia Business Arts Foundation. “Website Resources for Artists.” Business Skills for Visual Artists. 2007. 6 November 2008.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Artist Statement/Studio Processes and Concepts

As an artist working in both ceramics and photography, I have become aware of a constant struggle in my work to preserve experiences, which belong to the past. While I am not consciously working towards the goal of preservation, this process is inherent in the materials themselves.

When a ceramic work is fired, the clay transforms and vitrifies. Once the clay is vitrified, it is stronger and can no longer be easily reworked or recycled. Ceramic is an enduring material; many ceramic artifacts have survived for centuries, providing us with links to some of the world’s earliest cultures.

Although a photograph does not have the same inherent capacity for physical endurance as a ceramic object, the act of photographing captures that has passed and fixes or preserves it for future viewers. For example, Victorian photographs of the dead have long outlived their subjects and preserve them to this day. Cultural critic and theorist Roland Barthes has written that: “All young photographers who are at work in the world, determined upon the capture of actuality, do not know that they are agents of Death” (photoquotes.com). Barthes’ view was that photographs are not a representation of ‘what is,’ as that moment has passed and therefore photographs can only represent ‘what was.’ By recording moments of the past, we become more aware of the continual changes in the world.

I find this notion of preservation relevant to the properties of my materials, but I question how materials that preserve the past can successfully interact at the same time with the current context. While preservation is an important function of my materials, my primary conceptual interest is in the ephemeral. It is the intersection of temporality and permanence that creates a duality and tension within my work as an artist.

I love working with clay precisely because there is a constant tension in the process. The clay reacts and responds to being worked and retains a physical memory, which can cause it to crack and break. I respond to the fact that breaks and changes can occur in clay in each state, from wet to fired. I enjoy the chemistry of oxides and glazes, along with the spontaneous events that occur in the uncontrolled atmospheres of wood, soda, salt and raku firings. My ceramic work is the result of the collaboration between my hands, tools, clay, glaze and the atmosphere of the firing itself. This collaboration and the spontaneity inherent in the firing process have held my attention for the past eight years.

Although my studio practice is based primarily in ceramics and photography, I have diversified my materials over the years, using bronze and paper casting, woodworking and welding in recent works. My art practice is not defined by any one material; I find working in a single material to be limiting.

I define my recent photographic work as focused on capturing an emotion or atmosphere rather than depicting an event, place or time. I struggle to move photography beyond the boundaries of literal visual representation towards the more abstract and emotional content that can be found in modern painting, for instance.

At the same time, my recent ceramic work has placed an emphasis on multiples. I use the wheel as a primary tool in most of my ceramic sculptures. I create a tension between the objects and the space around them, carefully balancing and stacking forms without the use of adhesives. The over-arching concept in my work is based on memory and fragments of the past. These are then reconstructed into new abstract forms, which reference multiple organic shapes and topics.

In my experience the work comes before the concept; rather than waiting for an idea to spark a work, I work to spark an idea. I find a method of working that interests me and then work and work for weeks and months; it is usually a few weeks after the work is finished that I can then take time to reflect and dissect the theme/concept behind my method of working. The concept is formed subconsciously as I work but I find it too frustrating to both work intensely on a piece and consciously make sense of a concept.

Short Resume/CV

Zoƫ C. Boucher
531 Putnam Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
zcb1@alfred.edu

Education:

Sydney (Australia) College of Art, fall 2008. Participant in semester-long exchange program for undergraduates, taking coursework in photography and ceramics.

College (entered fall 2006): Alfred University, School of Art & Design (within the New York State College of Ceramics) Alfred, NY. Awarded half-tuition merit scholarship for all four years based on portfolio; named one of twelve entering Miller Scholars in Art & Design, with additional merit-based scholarship. Dean’s List.

High school, 2002-2006: Visual Arts Major at Walnut Hill School for the Arts, Natick, MA. Honors student for all four years; recipient of full scholarship all four years; graduated with honors. President of Emerge Club (diversity issues) for two years; invited by Dean of Students to participate as member of school-wide Committee on Diversity, with faculty & alumni, in sophomore year. Coursework included: ceramics, photography, printmaking, painting, drawing, 2-D and new media.

Studied also at: SMFA (School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), Mass. College of Art, Brookline Arts Center, Mudflat Studio, Arlington Center for the Arts, New Art Center of Newton, Worcester Center for Craft. Coursework also included: 2-D mixed media, silk-screening, silver jewelry-making.

Art Shows/Exhibitions:

Semi-annual shows of student work at the Pooke Gallery, Walnut Hill School, Natick, MA, winter & spring 2002-2006; including senior show shared with two other visual artists, April 2006.

Ceramics and photography shown in annual Cambridgeport Artists’ Open Studios (CAOS) show, fall 2002-2005, as part of Riverbend Studio.

Photography (B&W and color digital) shown at first “Arts Central” weekend festival, summer 2005, Central Square, Cambridge, MA


Ceramic “stirrup bottle” (approximately 30” tall) selected for inclusion in national juried show of student work at the National Ceramics Educators’ Conference in Baltimore, MD, March 2005.

B&W photos exhibit, 2004, Worcester Artists’ Group Gallery, Worcester, MA.

“Photo quilt” shown in “Drop Cloth Art” show at Zeitgeist Gallery, Cambridge, MA, October 2003.

Art Employment:

Youth worker, arts & leadership program
John Marshall Elementary School
Dorchester, MA

Volunteered four hours per week, fall 2005, leading arts-related and student government activities for urban elementary school students, in a program affiliated with Walnut Hill School for the Arts in Natick, MA. For reference, call: Steven Durning at 508-650-5039.


Studio assistant/intern
Ceramics Program at Harvard University
219 Western Avenue
Allston, MA 02134

Employed as summer 2005 studio assistant/intern at large, fully equipped ceramics studio. Received mentoring from professional ceramic artists, participated in all aspects of studio operation and maintenance, including: clay preparation, making glazes, loading and unloading kilns. Supervisor: Nancy Selvage, Director, @ 617-495-8680.

Mudflat Studio
Broadway
Somerville, MA

Served as assistant teacher for children’s clay classes for six weeks, summers of 2001 and 2002. Duties included: clay preparation, demonstrations of technique, studio clean-up, management of behavior problems, etc. Contact Lynne Gervens, Studio Director, @ 617-628-0589.

Language Skills:

Fluent in French; minimal Creole; studied the Twi language in Ghana; some prior study of Spanish.

Technical Skills:

Full range of photography and darkroom skills.

Familiar with a range of print-making techniques, as well as use of drawing, painting, MIG welding, wood-working and bronze casting.

Wheel-throwing, mold-making and hand-building with clay; glaze mixing; soda, raku, salt, wood, reduction, and electric kiln firing.

Familiar with both Macintosh and PC computer formats, including use of Adobe PhotoShop software.

Ceramic works

I made these pieces at Alfred University during fall 2007 and spring 2008. The top image is made up of several thrown cylinders that were attached when the clay was very wet and began to slump. The piece was fired raw in the wood kiln.
This series was made by dipping dust masks found throughout the Alfred Ceramics college facilities in red casting slip. The fiber of the masks burnt away in the gas firing leaving light, brittle, shells of clay and only the metal nose piece remained embedded in the pieces. Then each mask was assembled in the installation in a grid and filled with damp cigarette butts found on the ground outside the ceramics studio.
This series was made by pressing small wads of terracotta into a wooden frame the size of a kiln brick. The barnacles attached to the bricks were thrown on the wheel and then pinched to create contours. The barnacles were colored with white terra sigillata and the brick surface was brushed with black iron oxide and soda fired. Then the pieces were arranged in a line and stacked . The installation was my visual reponse and interperation of Robert Frost's poem "Mending Wall."

Black and White Photographs 2008