Materieal or Craft?

I've been thinking allot about the choice of materieal when making work and how that influences an artists course of study. I look at the sculpture grads and I see them dooing all of these materieal studies, experimenting with the nature of each medium. In ceramics I dont think we do that so much because clay is such a direct and integral part of how we define ourselves. If I had to place a lable on my art practices I would consider myself a sculptor, but I chose a material ie. Clay, and decided to use it to communicate my ideas, based on its properties. I am questioning the logic of the decision to find a material and develop your content through it, vs. experimenting with materials and letting the content come from them. Should one aim to establish content first and then find the appropriate material, or experiment with materials until they find content?

Work in the studio

Its feels like its been ages since I have had the luxury of walking into my studio, sitting down and working on the sculpture in front of me. The structure of this semester more than any other seems to put demand on everything but studio work/making and it has been driving me nuts! I think a big part of it is having GAs that do not directly pertain to our studies, and partly the time intensive nature of the classes I am taking, but in conversation with peers it seems like its not just me. I understand that there is allot more to grad school than making work, but at times like this it seems like time for work is getting a little shafted. I guess I am just wondering what you all think or feel about the structure of our graduate program, and its relation to our studio practice? do you all feel like you have sufficient time to work on art specifically in your concentration?.... Any way I made this post because I finally got a chance to hollow this out.

Time traps aka Lithos

Here are some shots of the photo lithographs that I have been working on this semester. My aim is to bring some of these shapes and lines into the surface of my clay figures. printing is also providing me with an arena to experiment with color combinations that I can apply to my ceramic works.

Art of The State

Work Exchange

Making some figures for the class exchange gave me the opportunity to just make work without overthinking. After feeling a bit stuck and unsure of the direction of my current work, this exercise helped me to remember what is is that I like about the figure. this gave me the freedom to try to apply some of the input I have gotten on my work such as varring textural applications (using different brush sizes!), and including a bit more narative without spoon feeding. Anyway I had fun and I still like making people.

Arts at Edinboro

I just thought I'd throw in a plug for the Bates Gallery blog. I have been documenting the shows that pass through the galley for the past semester and unfortunately it doesn't get much traffic. So check it out! become a follower and spread the word! It would be great to get feedback and its a good way to see what students have been up too on campus.