2nd Annual Tea Set Exhibition.

2nd Annual Tea Set Exhibition at the Irvine Fine Arts Center.

14321 Yale Avenue (in Heritage Park). Irvine, CA 92604.

Hours of  Operation:

Mon - Thurs 9AM - 9PM

Fri - Sat 9AM - 5PM

Sunday  Closed

Exhibition dates: March 11 - April 11, 2009

Tea Reception: Saturday, March 21, 3 - 5 PM

I will be showing two of my tea set pieces especially  created for this year's show. I'll post them when I have them completed.

2nd Annual TeaSet Exhibition.

Irvine Fine Arts Center, Irvine, CA.

2nd Annual Tea Set Exhibition.

March 2009.

Work in progress - greenware.

Southern Ice Porcelain Paperclay.

Slab and hand built.

A take on the familiar take out boxes from Chinese restaurants.

My intention is to high fire to Cone 10 without any glazes on the outside. Perhaps a white glaze on the inside to make it somewhat "functional". It's more of a sculptural set.

The final work should be ready in a couple of weeks, barring any accidents or problems.

Stay tuned...

Paperclay On Different Surfaces

This was the start of my piece titled "Trapped". The initial forms were made from chicken wire (galvanized steel mesh), wood reeds and thick cotton twine (left picture).

The Southern Ice Porcelain Paperclay slip was brushed on, layer by layer to build up a sufficiently thick coating. Each layer was allowed to dry before a new coat was applied.  The initial progress was slow, but as the layers built up, it became easier and faster with successive layers. In the end, it was a matter of deciding how thick was thick enough to show all the details I wanted to show (right picture).

I decided to make a hollow sphere (representing the world) from the same clay, drew in the major continents and islands on it freehand, and using the paperclay slip, build up the land mass to give it some topographical texture.

The piece was fired (as separate pieces) at Cone 04 (bisque temp). The wood reeds and cotton twine burnt away. The steel mesh is still within the clay.  A light pearlescent acrylic wash was applied over the raised surfaces of the world to subtly contrast it against the white clay. No glazes are used.

"What is caught in the trap?" In Asia, this kind of trap is used to catch fish. At first glance, it looks like a white ball has been caught. On closer inspection, we can make out that it is the world; our world. The choice of using this very white clay is deliberate. In Eastern culture, white has an ominous meaning.

Add What to Paperclay?

This tea set was completely hand built, including the Japanese style tea pot. Although not a potter, I find these pinch forms a pleasure to make. It would have been definitely faster doing it on the wheel, however I find the wheel imparts a very mechanical, sterile feel to a piece.

The texture on the cups and teapot was obtained by mixing in left over cooked brown rice in the clay and then forming the pinch forms. The rice burns away during the bisque firing leaving the voids.

To make it "functional" (it's usable, but I regard it as a sculptural piece), the inside of the vessels were coated with regular paperclay and then a thin layer of Southern Ice porcelain paperclay was applied over the paperclay. The porcelain paperclay was added to provide a white background for the celadon glaze to "pop". An iron oxide wash was applied to the outside of the set. The piece is high fired to Cone 10.

The presentation tray is actually a scrap piece of iron railroad tie plate that I found near the railroad tracks in my area. I thought it would make a most unusual complement to the piece. Heavy as heck, though!

Adding the Human Touch.

One of my students in my Paperclay class suggested I put a picture of me in my website and blog to make it more personal. I thought it was a great idea, so here it is.

The work I'm holding is "Landed", in its final greenware stage. I was dry-fitting the interior pod to make sure everything fits before it goes into the bisque fire. The final completed work is here  http://www.anthonyfoo.com/Landed.htm.

The space you see here is part of the ceramics sculpture studio at the Irvine Fine Arts Center. Test glaze tiles can be seen on the back wall.

2008 Nisei Week Ceramic Exhibition-Update

Here is the promo postcard for this year's Nisei Week Ceramics Exhibition with my featured piece, "AnemoTea".

Ceramics and Earthquake do not mix.

The magnitude 5.4 earthquake in North Orange County we had today is a good reason why "earthquake putty" is a must for people who do ceramics or collect them. My home and gallery is less than 8 miles from the epicenter so we are very close to the shaking.

The only casualty of the quake was this finished raku piece which tipped over from its pedestal, fell and shattered. The other pieces in the gallery and a current work in my studio rode out the quake.