My Year of Orchids: A clay orchid holder

My inspiration came from the orchids I rescued when we first moved here. They were pushed way back in the shade in decrepit wooden slat baskets. Must have been there for at least the two years the previous owners were absent. Their roots were extensive, hugging the wood and seeking out every corner where moisture might accumulate. In the broken down baskets were equally broken down clay flower pots. The orchid roots were focused there. They ran all over the pots coating them in a thick mat here, a muscular long root there. They enveloped the pots, layered themselves on the pots, searched the pots, made themselves part of the pots.

It was my first lesson in orchid root ecology and it made sense. The porous, untreated surface of an old flower pot was an excellent medium for orchid roots. The slatted baskets, the pots, and the orchids were as one. There was no chance I’d be able to separate them. Just enjoy. 

I had worked with clay extensively a few years back. When my teaching job at Boston University got unbearable thanks to a vicious dean and a destructive chairman, I found solace next door in the Fine Arts building where I went to work pouring energy into clay sculpture. My enthusiasm morphed into a monthlong fellowship at the Medalta clay residency in Medicine Hat, Alberta. That experience is a story in itself but let’s just say for now. I produced loads of work, most of which I just threw away at the end of the residency. 

I experimented with extruding clay through my hands so I came up with a rough surface that reflected my process. I shaped the long thick (or thin) bands of extruded clay around objects like a plastic bag filled with styrofoam packing peanuts. When the clay dried I would cut a hole in the bag and pull the peanuts out one by one. Careful work like this saved many unfired pieces from an early demise. The challenge was getting bigger pieces into the kiln without breaking. I could employ the fired pieces as individual sculptures or pile them together for larger pieces. It was fun and I was happy with the results.

So here I am in St. Petersburg and Janet was worried I wasn’t getting out of the house (garden) enough. She packed me up like a first day kindergartener and sent me to the adult pottery class at Bay Vista park a few steps from our house. People were working on trays and bowls and tiles and pretty things. I went to work on ceramic orchid holders.

Here again, thin hand-extruded pieces surrounding a ball of newspaper, which will burn off in the kiln. The result: a rough asymmetrical clay ball somewhat bigger than your fist. It is more air than substance maybe just like me. You stick it on any branch, plop in the orchid, maybe with a few bits of sphagnum or potting medium (or styrofoam peanuts!), water, and wait for those roots to run their course along the soft, porous bisque-fired clay. My goal is for the piece to disintegrate over the years as Mother Nature does her job and the expanding orchid finds its way to the living branch.