Curved Design: A Look at Echo
Echo is a piece that finds me in a transitory frame of mind when it comes to designing shapes. Utterly assymetrical, she measures 8 inches tall (maximum), and 7 inches wide (maximum). Echo is comprised entirely of triangular faces and resembles my dog Ren at certain views. In fact, I had briefly considered calling this piece Hare. The base starts out as a pentagon and quickly culminates into curved vertical triangles. These ‘ears’ offer a hint of something organic in the design. With my geometric pieces I do have a general idea of I want to do and I often will sketch them prior. Once I get my hands in the clay I sometimes realize my ideas aren’t physically possible, or I will get a new idea while sculpting and I will pivot accordingly. I do cut slabs of each face and then join them accordingly, one at a time. I’ve tried to use coiling but that didn’t turn out too well.
I will always take pictures of a shape unpainted and sketch designs on my ipad on top of these pictures. Often I already have an idea of what I am going to paint and these will match closely to the finished result. I will have to post those sketches sometime. When I started doing geometric shapes I attempted to carry a singular traditional design across the whole shape, like in bowls and pots. I found out it would be a challenge to do that successfully, and I started to paint individual designs on each face. I now look at each face as a new dimension, as one sees x, y, and z coordinates in geometry, and these pieces sometimes will have up to 12 dimensions or more.
Recently I have become very interested in parametric architecture and have introduced elements of it in my latest pieces (Contour and Marble). I am drawn to how parametric design uses curved and natural shapes as active aspects in architecture. As I get more confident with these concepts I intend to use more of it in future pieces. In Echo, parametric elements make up about half of the black paintings, with the other half being contemporary Cochiti designs.
I think Echo best represents that crossroads between these elements that are hovering in my head (Cochiti Pueblo Design, Parametric Design, topography and multidimensional geometry) and is a very compelling place for me to dwell in. As always, I use natural materials and traditional methods to prepare my clay, and I urgently need to collect more for the busy season. One of my next goals: getting them bigger…
