Dessert Stand

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Emma Smith

EmmaSmith_1This little buddy is one of my newer pieces – a collection I call “Western Merriment”. This series is a group of objects that delight the everyday with whimsy, wonder and joy. This specific piece is a dessert stand for those days when you are feeling blue, and all you need is a lovely wood-fired porcelain object to eat your tasty morsels off of.

Who wants to eat a lovely cupcake off a regular old plate anyway?

By the way, this guy (or gal) is off to Philadelphia next week to be in a miniatures show called Small Favors. (note the lack of a “u” fellow Canadians?)

Pretty stoked, I am. Let’s hope this Timmy has a safe journey. Fingers crossed.

 

 

Filed under: ceramics, fixed hearts, real live art, Tangible art | 1 Comment »

Atmospheric Firings

Posted on December 18, 2012 by Emma Smith

I’ve been taking advantage of Sheridan’s resources this fall, and making lots and lots of pots! I have been working with SEVEN different types of clay at FOUR different temperatures and using a variety of firing techniques. Some of my most recent work has been high-fire, using stoneware and porcelain in gas, salt and wood fired kilns. Here are some of my favourites:

Glacialsmall

Glacier
Wood fired porcelain saucer
6″x4″

Click for hi-res

Wood firing is a very physical firing technique. Not only do you have to cut and split all the wood, but a 24-hour firing requires a lot of man hours to stoke the fire all through the night. This plate was one of only 5 pieces that I got into this winter’s wood firing. After the new year, I’ll be spear heading my own firing to get more pieces out!

Lagoonsmall

Lagoon
Salt fired stoneware boat
12″x4″

Click for hi-res

LagoonTopsmall

Top view
Click for hi-res

LagoonUndersidesmall

Underside
Click for hi-res

Salt firing is a truly awesome firing process. Using a special gas fired kiln, we dump rails of rock salt into the kiln, alongside the pots during the last temperature increase of the firing. The salt vapours attack the silica in the clay body and glazes, leaving an “orange peel” effect, lots of flashing and beautiful colours!

Terrestrialsmall

Terrestrial
Salt fired stoneware boat
12″ x 4″

Click for hi-res

TerrestrialUndersidesmall

Underside
Click for hi-res

Filed under: ceramics, Tangible art | 2 Comments »

It’s been a while

Posted on September 14, 2012 by Emma Smith

It’s been a long time since my last post, so in the spirit of getting my hands back into clay, I thought I would post another of my atmospheric cups. I will be working on a whole line of “atmospheric dishes” this upcoming year. It’s always a good refresher for me to look at old work – so here it is for you to enjoy as well (:

Click for hi-res.

Filed under: ceramics, Tangible art | 4 Comments »

Bim-Bim

Posted on July 15, 2012 by Emma Smith

This is Jesse’s newest buddy, Bim-Bim.

Bim-Bim is made with two types of yarn purchased at Great Balls of Wool in Powell River, BC. He is the first monster I totally finished, though there are many monster body parts lying around our apartment. Hopefully I will have some for sale at Powell River’s Open Air Market in the coming weeks!

Click the photos for high-res.

Bim-Bim up close

Jesse and Bim Bim

Filed under: real live art, stuffies, Wool crafts | 1 Comment »

Tetramino

Posted on July 3, 2012 by Emma Smith

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ImageFor my final work at Sheridan this year, I installed a collection of 3 Tetraminoes on which 16 cups were displayed. They were used to value the vessels as works of art as well as encourage the public to interact with them. “Choose your own cup, there will be one that speaks to you more than another”.

With this work, I wanted the public to start a relationship with the objects in their life, including cups. How does it feel to live WITH your life, rather than solely in it? These cups and display were an exploration of the social aspects of dining and domesticity – what does it mean to be consuming a product and what sort of experience are you partaking in, when using a specific object to aid in your consumption? What objects push us away and which ones intrigue us to hold out our hands and touch? What do you want to put your lips on and what is beautiful, but too peculiar to experience fully?

In the future, I will hopefully make collections of Tetraminoes for customers to “play” with in their own homes; being able to rearrange them, having multiple experiences with each object and contemplate the multiple purposes of a seemingly functional piece.

Click the images for high-res

Filed under: ceramics, real live art, Tangible art | 2 Comments »

Atmospheric Cup

Posted on May 6, 2012 by Emma Smith

This is one of many “atmospheric cups” that I have been working on as of late.

An important aspect of artmaking for me are process marks. In making functional vessels, I want the user to see the hands of the maker at work with the clay. I try to reflect the soft material that fired ware was once made from – clay is a moldable material, good for smearing and forming. In the work that I have been recently doing, I have been keeping the marks of process and hands on the piece, using them to enhance the aesthetic and the value of the vessel.

This cup was handbuilt using a press-mold and was then trimmed on the wheel. It was decorated with slip and underglazes, then had images defined using sgraffito techniques. It was bisque fired, covered in a glaze coat and then fired again.

The clay used is a terracotta red earthenware to cone 04.

Filed under: ceramics | 3 Comments »

Dude

Posted on April 14, 2012 by Emma Smith

I haven’t got around to giving this one an actual title but for the past 4 months have been affectionately calling him my “Big Dude.”

Big Dude is a replication of a Teotihuacan Censer from Mexico – I made him for a historical assignment at school. He took me 7 weeks to make including building all the sprigs and casting them in plaster in order to make the process authentic.

He was completely hand built from a clay recipe that I fortified and mixed myself. Once he was put together he was sprayed with a rutile wash and painted with a variety of other oxides for colour variation.

He was fired at Cone 1 in a reduction atmosphere with wood added to the kiln during high temperatures for flashing. Afterwards he was sandblasted to make him look worn and aged.

He stands just under 3 feet tall.

 

 

Filed under: unicorns | 5 Comments »

Papa

Posted on March 31, 2012 by Emma Smith

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A figure exploration of my dad during Sunday evening family time. He looks more Italian than he really is.

Filed under: ink | 4 Comments »

A Child Again

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Emma Smith

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Another portrait. This one was sketched in two types of charcoal on a gesso underlay and etched away with an eraser. The texture was scratched into the gesso before it dried. A childlike interpretation of an adult figure.

Click for high-res

Filed under: charcoal, gesso, sketches | 3 Comments »

Bowl

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Emma Smith

Thrown and altered Cone 10 Stoneware

Salt fired in a reduction atmosphere

Filed under: ceramics | 4 Comments »

Mr. Black

Posted on March 1, 2012 by Emma Smith

Jesse Black – a series of drawings.
These were done for a drawing assignment for school using watercolours on 400 lb cold press paper, willow charcoal and reduction processes.

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Filed under: charcoal, watercolor | Tagged: , , | 4 Comments »

Onwards and Upwards

Posted on July 26, 2011 by Emma Smith

Painting I made for a wedding gift

 

I have a thing for landscapes. I’m not sure why it is, but I always find myself drawing them with crayon or pencil crayon or doodling them with pen on printer paper at Second Cup. I had a wedding this weekend and as a person who strongly believes that “handmade” gifts are much more reflective of love than “purchased” gifts, I thought I should make them something. With a lack of pottery to donate to my “wedding gift charity” and no way of throwing up a few bowls by this past Saturday, I decided to take a wack at a painting. I have never really painted before unless you count grade 8 art class and the first time I used watercolours was this past fall when I needed to design a set of dishes.I wasn’t sure what the painting was going to turn out to be.. I just went at it and OF COURSE, it’s a landscape.

Needless to say I’m pretty excited about this painting and am stoked to hear what my wedding-giftees think of it, but they don’t get back from their honeymoon for another two weeks. So here it is on Arttime.

Enjoy folks.

 

Click for high resolution… I think.

Filed under: paintings, watercolor | 4 Comments »

A Controversial Religion

Posted on June 20, 2011 by Emma Smith

Layered analog photos

- a mix of North Eastern Thailand and the British Columbia Sunshine Coast

Filed under: manipulated, photographs | 3 Comments »

English Garden Scarf (:

Posted on April 16, 2011 by Emma Smith

This was my first adventure with “patterned” knitting rather than straight garter stitch. I did a simple checkerboard look which I think compliments the colours of the yarn really nicely! BTW.. The wool/silk combo is from Japan! (How cool is that?)

Filed under: unicorns | 4 Comments »

The God of Clay

Posted on April 3, 2011 by Emma Smith

This is the God of Clay. I hand built him my first week into my Ceramics program using a Raku clay. The Raku kiln, however, went on the fritz and so I had to fire him in the electric kiln. He is glazed with both charcoal and ruby underglaze sponged on, as well as some “Licorice”.

I like him (:

 

 

Filed under: ceramics | 1 Comment »

Stalks.

Posted on March 30, 2011 by Emma Smith

Some corn at the Partridge Family studio, captured with my analog Canon.

Filed under: photographs | 1 Comment »

Ray O Graph

Posted on March 15, 2011 by Emma Smith

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Equestrian Dental X-ray

Posted on March 7, 2011 by Emma Smith

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Black and White Print

Posted on February 25, 2011 by Emma Smith

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Not yet titled

Posted on August 29, 2010 by Emma Smith

I made this photo in the darkroom back in March. It has not been digitally altered or worked on in any way; all the manipulation of the photo, developing and printing was done by hand. Photos used were taken in Iceland.

Filed under: manipulated, photographs | 1 Comment »

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