Melanie Sherman Ceramics

China-Painting Workshop

2015-10-08T12:13:00.002-05:00

Learn techniques for this beautiful post-glaze firing decoration style. This workshop coincides with my exhibition at Belger Crane Yard Gallery.

Saturday will consist of different China-painting techniques on plates and tiles. Aspects such as composition planning, transferring images, tools and mixing medium for application, as well as firing procedures and temperatures will all be demonstrated, discussed and immediately applied. We will fire the pieces made that night for pick up the next day.

On Sunday, we will cover many of the same considerations for Luster application techniques. Although similar to China painting in firing temperature range, Luster application and firing techniques have subtle differences that are best understood with good demonstration and hands-on application.

These two days can be taken on their own or as a pair. They go hand-in-hand, so the two-day option is highly recommended.

The workshop includes china paint and luster materials, ceramic tiles/plates to be decorated, and firing. Participants bring their own tools. A tool list will be supplied in advance.

Saturday (China-Painting): $100

Sunday (Luster-Painting): $100

Both Days: $180

To sign up, email gallery@redstarstudios.org or call 816-474-7316

China-Painting Workshop | October 17 + 18, 2015
Belger Crane Yard Studios, 2011 Tracy Avenue, Kansas City, MO 64108

SCHEMA: A Journey Through Traditional Patterns and Imagery

2015-09-27T11:43:00.001-05:00

You are hereby cordially invited to attend the reception of "SCHEMA: A Journey Through Traditional Patterns and Imagery":

I am very excited to announce the date for the opening reception of my new exhibition “Schema: A Journey Through Traditional Patterns and Imagery” at Belger Crane Yard Studios, 2011 Tracy Ave, Kansas City, MO 64108 on Friday, October 2nd from 6pm – 9pm. I will have more than 50 pieces on display including precious vases, platters, plates, photography and much more featuring traditional and contemporary imagery and patterns; all delicately China painted and wonderfully decorated with gold and flock.

STUDIO | SNEAK PEAK

2015-08-25T09:12:00.000-05:00

I am working on my upcoming solo exhibition at Belger Crane Yard Studios in Kansas City, Missouri.

"SCHEMA: A Journey Through Traditional Patterns and Imagery" opens on October 2, 2015.

INSPIRATION | Japanese Tattoos

2015-08-20T08:46:00.000-05:00

My travels through Asia last year opened another door for me; I have been inspired by different patterns used traditionally throughout ceramics, fabrics, wood, metal, and the arts in general. Japanese tattoos have a rich amount of patterns and imagery as well, using very traditional symbolism and decorations. I've been collecting tattoo designs, pairing them with the patterns I've collected throughout my travels, and am painting them onto my ceramic pieces made during my residency in Jingdezhen, China.

STUDIO | Cleaning the studio

2015-08-18T10:14:00.001-05:00

Although I have been working in my home studio since November last year, I haven't had the time yet to get everything out of the boxes and organize the tools and supplies properly. These boxes were packed at the Kansas City Art Institute when I graduated in 2014...

I am still missing a lot of my throwing tools and that just shows how long I've not been throwing. I have mainly been working with plaster and casting slip, and most of my time right now is filled with china-painting the vases, plates, and tea sets I brought back from my travels to Asia last year.

The wheel area -
I did sit down yesterday to throw some cups on the wheel -
I still got it, no worries, it's like riding a bike!

My shelving -
the family we rent the space from designed everything for
their painting studio.
We just added some shelving to accommodate our needs
to store shorter stuff.


The china-painting area - I like to stand up when I work. It is much easier on my back! This has just the right height to stand all day and not get a backache!

Oh, all the stuff I have...
Mostly molds I made during my residencies in
Hungary and China, supplies I used during
my Undergrad years at KCAI, and tools...
... loads of tools...

SHOP | New jewelry in the shop!

2015-08-17T15:13:00.000-05:00

I've been listing a couple of items each day to my etsy shop [melaniesherman.etsy.com]: Today's add were two elegant and minimalist white pendant necklaces I made during my time in Hungary:

Porcelain necklace, white with silver chain
Hungarian Porcelain
1 1/4" x 1 1/4"
Chain: Silver, 19"
US$ 36.00

Porcelain necklace, white with silver chain Hungarian Porcelain
1 1/4" x 1 1/4"Chain: Silver, 19"
US$ 36.00

I'm also listing these white porcelain necklaces with gold luster and 15" gold snake chain necklace:

Porcelain necklace, white with gold
Hungarian Porcelain
1" x 3/4"
Chain: Gold. snake, 15"
US$ 36.00

An elegant way to wear porcelain! These porcelain "tokens" were decorated with a gold luster and then designed into rings, pendants, brooches, and earrings. I make these tokens on my travels around the globe, with local materials, and transform them into a wearable piece of art. These jewelry pieces are assembled by me here in the US in my ceramics studio and every piece is unique. This beautiful porcelain comes from Hungary, where I worked for 6 weeks in 2015. It is one of the whitest, most translucent porcelain.

Studio Nong in KCMO

2015-08-14T09:49:00.003-05:00

I took the sculpture workshop with artist collective Studio Nong at Belger Crane Yard Studios here in KCMO. This was my first time sculpting and working with a red clay body, and I enjoyed all the pointers Misty Gamble, Jessie Fisher and Bangmin Nong could give me. Although my sculpture looked nothing like our model Tommy Frank, it was super exciting to work so contrarily to how I usually operate. No porcelain and metal nibs for precision, just red iron stained hands, a wooden tool, and an eye for facial planes and contours.

Studio Nong is an artists collective and international residency program focused on figurative clay sculpture and the fusion on eastern and western artistic practice. Made up of eight artists and educators from the United States and southern China, the Collective's current residency program takes place at the Memphis College of Art and the Kansas City Art Institut.

The work they made during this residency will be in a show called "SunSet | SunRise: Work from Studio Nong" and will be up at Belger Crane Yard Studios here in KCMO from August 28th until September 18th, 2015. I toured their studio at the Kansas City Art Institute yesterday and their sculptures look AMAZING!!

FLUX - Kansas City Art Institute

2012-11-28T07:08:00.000-06:00

♦♦♦♦♦

Flux

Fall 2012 Juried Ceramics Exhibition

Kansas City Art Institute

Stern Ceramics Building

4410 Warwich Boulevard

Kansas City, MO

www.kcai.edu

Opening Reception

Friday, November 30th

5-7pm

Exhibition Dates:

Saturday, December 1st 10am - 5pm

Sunday, December 2nd 12pm - 5pm

New Business Cards

2012-10-21T21:00:00.000-05:00

I ordered new business cards at moo. I ordered their "green" cards, environmental friendly. Unfortunately these do not come in glossy, nor with rounded edges, but at least I've done less harm to Mother Earth.

Loading another test kiln

2012-10-19T07:31:00.001-05:00

Shane closing the kiln.

Cone 10 reduction - testing before final firings... With Shane and Brandon.

Glazing

2012-10-17T21:26:00.003-05:00

Done! Loading a kiln tomorrow with more tests before we finally have to
make up our minds on how we want things to be glazed... Decision...decisions...

Progress in studio

2012-10-16T08:09:00.004-05:00

Working on four sets of dinner plates, salad plates, and soup bowls (spoons, in my case)
+ 3 serving bowls

My Studio Space

2012-10-14T21:00:00.000-05:00

Studio space at the Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI) is sparse these days. Although our Junior group is small, we've had 28 Sophomores come in this semester, and nobody has dropped... yet... I am surprised, as usual, how much stuff I have and how much stuff I use, and how little space I have to store all of this stuff! So, a big clean-up was in order for midterm critique, I moved my wheel so I can utilize my entire work space in front of the window, organized my tools and moved all the other stuff into my cubby(ies).

My wheel and work space. The lower two shelves are mine as well.

My image sources - pure inspiration! Plus some much needed workspace.
Thank goodness I have awesome studio mates who share some of their space :)
Kudos to Corey and Joey!

Some of my many tools in these awesome soda crates that I found for
cheap at an antique mall here in KCMO.

Work in progress

2012-10-14T10:17:00.001-05:00

deadline for 5 more of these + 6 large dinner plates is Wednesday...
time flies, as usual -- am not sure what I've been doing these past 2 weeks?!?!

Almost midterm...

2012-10-07T20:58:00.000-05:00

It's almost midterm time here at the Kansas City Art Institute -- our first midterm as Juniors!! I've been working pretty hard and long hours on putting together a place setting. We've had so many weeks of throwing bowls and plates, reviewing, refining, reproducing and we are still only at midterms. But how much fun it is to just play around with different forms and designs and let your ideas guide you through the process.

I started out throwing a bunch of little bowls and trimming the bottoms round; I then started to manipulate the rims, cutting something off here, re-attaching it there, shaping the bowls into ovals.

I added slabs and put an upholstery pattern on it, attached a foot off-center, took that off again, added a rim, added more detail, and finally came up with something that resembles a pillow. I stuck with this idea and am now in the process of developing this "pillow"-idea further and integrating it into a place set.

For my midterm critique I am going to have two sets; both are not fully developed yet, but the direction I am taking with this is pretty clear. On my source imagery blog I have several references to upholstery, and fabrics, as well as frames, borders, and rims. I'm still working on surface decoration for the lower plate, not sure yet if it will be therma-faxing, rice paper decals or iron-oxide decals yet. Maybe I can figure out a nice layering effect with a few of these techniques.

Follow me on Instagram: melancholie

I'm still struggling with how these sets will be glazed, but the testing will begin after midterms. I'm thinking bare, beautiful white porcelain, black underglaze, and gold luster... Wish me luck :)

Summer 2012

2012-06-29T09:36:00.003-05:00

I am taking another wood and soda firing class at CLC this summer. It is good to be back from Kansas City (although I miss it already!) and work, load, and fire with some familiar faces. Our first firing in the CLC train kiln was a good one and we are hoping to get another three firings in until the end of July; including a reduction cooling and a tumble stack.

Starting the first CLC train kiln for the summer; Ben Bates

First wood firing; I had some re-fires (4 to the left), one rice-paper-decal trial,
and one plain, oribe over shino cup; all turned out awesome.

My favorite is this Matt Kelleher cup, which he made during the Penland
workshop with Dan Anderson. Dan trimmed and glazed it and we
fired it in the salt kiln. He asked me to bring it to CLC
and re-fire it. I re-glazed it and it is beautiful!

Opening the first (EVER!!) soda kiln; virgin firing, so to speak; Ben Bates, Brandon Schnur.

I had nothing but re-fires in the soda. Not as great as the wood firing, I think,
but I got two most awesome cups out of this one.

We are now working to fill our next kilns; one wood, one soda. We are firing the week after the 4th of July. I've been working on some jars with lids and cups.

Penland 2012 - Impressions

2012-06-15T06:00:00.000-05:00

Blue Ridge Mountains - on my way to Asheville.

An old Gas Pump, at Penland.

Full Moon over Penland.

Sleeping Cabins, up in the woods. My home for two weeks.

Organized to a T!

Old School Entertainment, at Penland.

Penland 2012

2012-06-12T17:56:00.000-05:00

At the end of May I had the wonderful opportunity to work as teacher assistant at the Dan Anderson workshop at Penland School of Crafts. I was there for two weeks and got to meet and work with some wonderful people.

My TA partner in crime, the one and only Mark Errol

Dan showed the class how to facet, stamp, paddle, pierce, apply feet and apply glaze. He demonstrated how to alter round forms into triangles and squares.

Dan showing Elina and Russel how he applies his signature feet to his pots

Dan is getting ready to pierce one of his pots with a square piercing tool

Dan had some of his friends from the Penland area do some throwing demos for the class.

Terry Gess, a former grad student of Dan's at SIUe

Matt Kelleher

A panoramic view of the Upper Clay Studio at Penland

At the end of the 2 week session we fired two salt kilns and a reduction kiln. Some of the students were brave enough to add the salt. It was a great experience since most of the class had never fired a salt kiln before.

Russel, Sherry, Mark, Sandy, Robbie, Seth and Heather glazing their wares for the end-of-session salt firing

My work, drying from washing off the underglaze, going into the salt kiln

Cones 06, 010 + 7, 8, 9, 10 for the salt kilns

Dan loaded Gin Gin

Mark and I loaded Juanita

Thanks to Susan Feagin's brilliantly organized brick-door-system, the kilns were bricked up in no time

Elina loading up the salt

Seth putting salt in the kiln [video 00:20]

We loaded the kiln on Monday night, fired all day Tuesday and went on a Field Trip on Wednesday, while the kiln was cooling. We went to Crimson Laurel Gallery and Mica Gallery in Bakersville, as well as the studios of Suzie Lindsey and Kent Mclaughlin (Fork Mountain Pottery), Michael Kline, Michael Hunt and Naomi Daglish (Bandana Pottery), and Courtney Martin. Thursday we unloaded the salt kilns.

Unloading the salt kiln - excellent results were achieved by all

Our evening entertainment contained a guitar, one or two banjos, and sometimes even the ukulele; here, Clara Hoag is performing one of her punk songs, while Mark and Izzy are listening (there actually was a whole group of people listening in the background)

Clara Hoag [video 00:28]

The session ended with a huge auction for the work study scholarship. Everybody was encouraged to donate a couple of pieces. Since I couldn't fit anything in my suitcase I brought a couple of the salt fired pieces up to Northlight and they were auctioned off on Thursday night.

A vase and a ketchup bottle of mine went to the auction

A French Fries Tray with the Ketchup Bottle went as well

Dan helped auction off some pieces, so did Cynthia Bringle

Some of the work I made while in Penland

Sophomore year -- Spring 2012 -- KCAI

2012-05-14T07:51:00.000-05:00

Since January I have been studying Ceramics at the Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI) in Kansas City, Missouri (KCMO). I started in my second semester Sophomore year and got the chance to work with George Timock on plaster and plaster molds. Our focus was on teapots; our inspiration could be drawn from animals, architecture or nature. With the help of those plaster molds I was able to create various teapots with different bases. This semester I also started using china-paints and luster, as well as kanthal wire. George also encourages his students to use the sandblaster, so some elements of my teapots are sandblasted in various stages of the process.

Spider (sprig mold), china paint, luster, nychrome wire, on lid

Teapot body with base, luster, wire

Teapot with base, kiln elements, underglaze

I also continued throwing and I worked with my teacher Paul Donnelly on form and surface design. Our focus was on mishima and sgraffito techniques, as well as using underglazes, china paint and lusters. I got to play around with different decorations and applications. I also worked on throwing larger forms (8-9 lbs).

Teapot, porcelain, with mishima technique, underglaze

Teapot, porcelain with mishima technique, underglaze, iron decals

Teapot, porcelain, with mishima technique, underglaze and gold luster

KCAI gives you the choice of moving into the "vessel" form or the "sculptural" elements of ceramics after you completed your Sophomore year successfully. Ceramic sculpture is taught by Cary Esser, who is also head of the Ceramics Department at KCAI. In the Fall I will be continuing my throwing practice with Paul and move on to explore the "vessel".