Creativity flows, falters, flows, and skips a beat. During this odd time, we have had moments of complete concentration in our work and moments of complete numbness where no creative thoughts are to be found. Balance has always been our motto.
During the spring and early summer, we continued to produce our line of textural and whimsical works. Somewhere around the end of June or early July, our minds became a bit clearer and more focused on creating new works. One of these new design concepts have been incorporated into our abstract plates and bowls.
Somewhere along the line, I discovered Aaron Bohrod's A Pottery Sketchbook and immediately was taken with his abstract designs on clay. Best known for his painting, Bohrod (1907-1992) discovered clay in 1950 but apparently wasn't as thrilled with making the forms as he was with decorating them. For more information on his clay work see: themarksproject.org/marks/bohrod and for a good bio on his life & painting history see: chicagomodern.org/artists/aaron_bohrod
I have been working in sgraffito for many years and have experimented with various designs but it was when I came across Bohrod's sketches that I wanted to focus on a new line for turin & turin clayworks.
Process: The plate is formed from a porcelain slab on a drape mold. Once the clay is firm enough to hold its form, I take it off the mold and tape up the edges so that the slip stays only where I want it to be. After applying the slip (which I make from ground porcelain and Mason stain), I remove the tape and clean up the edges.
It is at that point that I start to etch in (or sgraffito) the design. Can you see the Bohrod influence?
Porcelain is a finicky clay body. To put it bluntly, it likes to move, crack warp.... So I weight all my plates while they are drying and watch them carefully so that they are drying slowly and evenly. Time well spent as my results (knock on wood) have been mostly consistent.
So that is how this new series came about! We've gotten a good reception through social media and web sales and are really looking forward to debuting this line as soon as we are able to get back out to shows.
Please feel free to contact us anytime with questions. And, yes, we are happy to create sets!