Buoys Will Be Boys

It took years to collect

all of these small floats (buoys), that washed up onto our beach; The Plantation, in Chumporn. The floats were once tied to the top of fishing nets. These ones have come loose and found their way here. I have brought them together in a mixture of random weaving, silicone and glue to create this boy-like (some of the buoys are very phallic) sculpture. Like boys, this fellow is grubby and messy. He's made of rubbish that has washed up on the beach. He's complicated, complex and intricate (the main body of the work) and he is also pure, innocent and simple (the major buoy/head). He was just finished this weekend. He was 9 days in the making. He is 70cm tall and 45cm at his widest girth. He is made from recycled materials. He wants us to recycle more and more.

A STARfish and a Sea Sponge

These two sculptures were in the STARs exhibition.

Starfish is a small miracle; another of my "dangerous" pieces that survived the kiln.

Sea Sponge is just a delight for the senses. The exterior colours are earthy and warm, the interior is fleshy-pink and cool. The whole surface is glassy smooth and rippled like a piece of sheer silk frozen in the act of it's flutter. The mouth is unglazed so it was fired upside - down. This way I got the sexy glaze all over the roounded bottom.

Ripple Walls

I love these ripples. They are chunky and curly and substantially big. This is Stoneware clay with a golden red oxide glaze. The two walls together measure aprox 60cm long and 40 cm high.

Pod Family

Here we are, back where we belong, on solid Art ground.

This wacky connection of pods has more holes. I like holes. They invite you to stick a finger in. And this is my latest glaze. I'm very happy with these colours.

Ginger Jars

MORE functional objects!!!!! It can't be helped. My Ginger Jars are beautiful. I enjoy designing a bowl and matching fitted lid. I enjoy perfecting the skill. I am beginning to see the beauty in functional objects. Each jar is aprox 20cm high. Tho I must confess they have not been raised to art status. Is this the difference between a craft and an art?

Clam Bowls

Function and form? Yes I've done it again. It's not the best thing to do but I was practicing on the wheel and the really wide soft edge of a large bowl, brought up too quickly had this beautiful wavy effect when it flopped down.

This made trimming difficult so I did what I could to get a neat foot and then hand carved the exterior in this clam shell finish. I've already said that function should not be a factor in my sculpture but I can't resist putting seafood into this bowl.

Atlantis Labyrinth

Atlantis Labyrinth is a ceramic sculpture of a sponge colony

The Colours in this sponge colony are so luminous. The light catches Kasumi's Clear glaze on her red-brown beautifully reflecting deep blues. Inside is a fleshy pink.

This sculpture, like my Octopus Bowl, invites a caress. The colours and glassy finish are so fluid and silky it just wants to be held. And like Octopus Bowl, this is also a bit bulky to lovingly fondle. These sponges are over 40cm tall. It is not a fragile sculpture. It sits very comfortably.

The base is wheel thrown and the tubes are coiled. I enjoy creating negative spaces in a sculpture. The two tallest tubes separate and then join at the top, creating an outside space within the sculpture. Maybe some inspiration from Henry Moor?

Golden Octopus from the Deep

I painted this guy with acrylics on four canvas panels.

size: 60 x 160cm

I did it while I was at The Black Pearl for a week in August. Noi had gone to Bangkok for work and I was on my own. The time went by quickly. But I wanted this guy done.

The workers building Baan Mahasajahn were totally intrigued. I painted the water first. Lots of water with big wet brushes on a wet canvas. While it was still wet I painted the Golden Octopus. I had seen one just like this colour while snorkelling aroung coral in Candellight Bay. His patterned golden skin struck me with his beauty. It's now years later that I am able to capture it.

After I thought it was done, I phoned Noi in Bkk and told him about what i had doone. It had taken three days. He asked "Is it cute or scary?" It was the perfect critical question. I had the wrong answer. Even the workers kids thought it was cute. So I attaked it again. More black, lots darker, and splattered the whole thing with black then hosed it off and let the colours dribble down and run together. then asked a little girl, about four years old, if she still liked it. She didn't answer, just backed away behind her mums protective legs. I was happy with her responce. My painting was finished.

Giant Jellyfish

I really enjoyed doing these guys. They are giants.

Each panel is 1m x 2.4m

When we were in Osaka, Noi and I went to the aquarium. I took dozens of photos of these jellies floating around in their tank. I love their fluidity.

They are now mounted in the stairwell of The Black Pearl.

And there's a great history to the pieces:

While Baan Mahasajahn was being built, the workers used reclaimed billboard panels to construct their shanty bungalows. These panels still had the paint from the billboards on them. They were nailed over poles to create a very protective shelter from the Ocean's elements. The builders lived in their huts for over a year. When Baan Mahasajahn was complete enough, they moved in there and knocked down their huts.

I had always loved the colours on these panels, but as Noi complains that I'm always picking up rubbish from the beach to make into art that nobody would want in their homes, i was afraid to ask him if I could have these panels. I knew he'd think I was crazy. They are rusting pieces of junk.

But as the junk was being cleared away I saw my art slipping away. I had to have them, so I knew I needed Noi involved. I grabbed him and a pot of paint that was being used to paint the ceilings. There was already a manky, crusty broad brush in the paint pot. It had been there for days.

So at night, I dragged the panels into a clear space and together we splattered the jellyfish tentacles. It was fun. I had the bodies done in no-time. It was all over too soon. But they were finished. Once framed and hung on the 6m wall, they look fabulous.

Turtle Shell / Egg

I like this shape, I like these colours and I like the hole in the top.

The shape and colour are turtle-shell-ish. Imagine the turtle, all tucked up in side. I have some turtles in a pond at home. When I pick them up, they are about this size and this shape. My turtles are a totally different colour to this piece, but I like the mottled green effect. The glaze is my recipe. I love it.

The hole in the top just makes me want to put my finger in it. It would be an exciting intrusion. Doesn't it look like it could snap; just like a turtle? And Like the fragile sea turtles, this egg is cracked. Messages are loaded, here.

Barnacle cluster

I love this cute little cluster of barnacles. They have a dumpy, clumpy, chunky feel. They hang out together on weekends and know all the same friends. Barnacles are great people to know.

These guys are still available at 100Tonson Gallery, Bangkok. Or just ask me. Each singular piece fits into a large hand. But they could never be separated.

Brain Coral

This is where I have been challenged. This brain coral was my fourth attempt at creating this subject.

Eventually I settled on a pinch pot with added coils on the outside. It is a beautiful marriage of form and function. But here is a bowl that needs not be used. Like a brain, it's already full of potential.

I still want to try it again because it's not pushing the limits enough. This worked because it was safe. However, I do like it because it is essentially a basic pinch pot.

I love the colours inside. Again, Kasumi provides the best glazes in Bangkok.

Porcelain clay.

Curtain Coral

I think this is the piece that caught the attention of a few people. Enough attention to prompt getting me invited to join the STARs exhibition.

It was made from slabbing porcelain clay. I was inspired to create this piece after taking so many photos of the coral around the Similan Islands, off the coast of Phuket.

This item sold for THB 25,000

I was proud to see it sold.

I shouldn't need my work to be sold to get a sense of my worth as an artist. It should be enough to create art for the sake of creating. And it is. I love the process. However, when things do sell, there is also pride and pleasure that other people value what I do.

Octopus Bowl

This was one of my first large pieces. Once I had done this, there was no going back to mediocracy.

The Ocopus bowl was inspired after a trip to Japan. In Tokyo's fresh seafood market they displayed octopus in a very unusual way. But the design of an octopus, almost turned inside-out, was beautiful. And so the octopus bowl was born.

I began with a pinch pot and then coiled the arms on. It was a long and difficult process. I am actually surprised it survived the building and firing. It is still my favourite.
It was the first to be sold at STARs.

Was I sad to see him go? Yes. But it is also a wonderful feeling to know that someone else sees what I see and values it. He sold for THB 25,000. That also made me happy.

Mojito Jug

For our Merry Mexico Christmas large quantities of mojito cocktails were necessary. So I made this jug especially for the occasion and then gifted it to Gretchen.

Then Peta and Steve put in a request for one and so did Molly and Ret.

I'm not usually into functional ceramics, but I like these funky jugs.

The Gretchen jug was thrown on a wheel and had extra bits added on after. The glaze is one of my favourites from Kasumi.

STARs

This exhibition was an honour and a rewarding experience.

The sculptures pictured here are Curtain Coral, Octopus Bowl, Starfish and Jellyfish.

I was in such grand company, represented at Bangkok's finest private gallery. Now listed among the WORLD'S top 50 emerging galleries. It was more than a foot in the art world door, it was a centre-stage performance.

From The STARS Pr:

"Entering our fifth year, 100 Tonson Gallery would like to celebrate the love and interest of art by hosting STARs (Self-Taught Artists) exhibition. Six artists from various (but not art) academic backgrounds are starred in the exhibition after they have courageously pursued their passion for art, dedicated themselves in the area where they were not trained and became successful as artists. 100 Tonson Gallery usually presents the works of artists with museum quality. Both our young and established artists are often collected or exhibited in world-class museums. Without art academic guidance, the artists selected and shown in this exhibition are of 100 Tonson Gallery’s quality but viewers will also see a unique sense of naivety and free-spiritedness.

Exhibition: STARs
Exhibition Date: 10-31 May , 2007

Opening Reception: Thursday, May 10, 2007 , at 7 pm"