1985
DecemberBest tunes
I can smell the clay when I hear this tune. Senior year in KCAI in the ceramics department with Ken Ferguson and Bob Stel in his torn Psychedelic Furs t-shirt. it was the end of punk, but the beginning of something else. Just for fun, I bought the UK version of this record, which had this Blacks/Radio tune on it, not to be found on the domestic release. I learned that long ago when I only got the UK Beatles records, they fit another tune per side! Weird.
September BFA in Ceramics
It was a satisfying end to my ceramic career, the work I had done before Japan was very much based in the pieces transforming, melting, or distending in the kiln, the first year work was more about trying out some approach to the vessel, making it more figurative or something based on life drawing. The twisted coil shapes coming out of the kiln in year two were more satisfying, even though still somewhat a 'riff' on a vessel. This place can be quite uptight when it comes to this historical construct, I suppose ceramics can contain volume, but sculpture can be simply planes, or in a better way, the combines Rauschenburg did.
So this year was just straight up collage, with a bit of help from the kiln, and using glaze as 'glue' putting the pieces together. I think they worked out well, the clay helped, my own recipe that has so much magnesium in it it can come out fairly black. I even got my piece showcased in the final show, and a buyer, but they balked if I couldn't 'glaze' the backside. Uh... how often do artists have to explain their work, probably a lot. The final straw was my critique with Dale Eldred. "Where do these things go" - problem with ceramics is that people don't have that many pedestals or tables lying about for 3-4 foot sculptures to sit upon. Time to make stuff that hangs on the wall.
In 1984 we were taken over by a totalitarian overlords, or some call it my year in Japan