Failure into Success

Just ran into Central Square to get a roll of chicken wire. “What?!” You may wonder…

Long story short, the ideas don’t stop. And lately I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with shards of clay that either don’t make it to the kiln or come from the kiln fired but not attached to the sculpture they were supposed to be part of.

Thing is, the pieces are beautiful as they are. Because I’m shaping everything with my hands, they are graceful, long, gestural, and infinitely detailed…down to the fingerprints! I’m not obsessive about my stuff. I’m happy to throw things out when there’s nothing else to do with them. This summer I threw out almost everything I made at the Medalta Artists-in-Residence,

http://medalta.org/artists-residence

about 100 pieces in all made from about 800 pounds of clay

Here are links to a few of the things I threw out. What else could I have done? SHIP THEM BACK TO BOSTON??

To tell you the truth, I did give some away or alternatively, parked them in some of the most beautiful natural places I could find in western Canada. But still, all I have are the memories.

Now that I’m starting to get more shards together from my work at Boston University I want to do more than just throw them in the trash.

I also like the unknown magic of found objects or objects that don’t fit. You might say I like to make failure into success.

So, I’ve been thinking, why not wrap up the shards in pieces of chicken wire and make an installation from them. Heavy enough to have some umph. Light in shape and feel. As I make progress I’ll show you some pictures. Meanwhile, wish me luck. I need it!