Shop Talk

Shop Talk 2013 - Volume 6! MFA candidate Marge Gormley visited our studios to interview us for Shop Talk, a journal of artist interviews that are published by Edinboro University in Pennsylvania. We love the interview (thank you so much!) and had a blast showing Marge around our studio, UC, and Rookwood. You can read the entire publication HERE. And you should - it is fascinating that this project is school sponsored. 

Drawing and Printmaking

Here is the initial sketch for a project in collaboration with Clay St. Press, excited to work with a real master printmaker to help us realize the potential of our drawings.

coming soon

Such and Such's model of the wooden bear skin rug above (which turned out AMAZING)... and an image from our panel talk at the CAC last Friday night (below). We will posting images from The  Living Room exhibition and ICFF soon.

fireplace #1 = done

We just crated our first fireplace to ship out for ICFF 2013. Cannot wait to install in New York, and see our booth come to life next weekend. Get ready Rookwood... Fireplace #2, coming up.

The Living Room - get ready

The Living Room
May 18th - September 2nd, 2013
Curated by Justine Ludwig

Collaborative site specific installations by Such + Such, Paul Coors, Terence Hammonds, Guy Michael Davis, and Katie Parker

A bold endeavor breaking traditional museum boundaries, The Living Room presents alternate modes of experiencing art within a museum setting. Featuring local artists who overlap with contemporary craft, this exhibition is comprised of several room vignettes meant to facilitate interaction, occupation, conversation and lounging for extended periods of time. The sitting area features an elaborately tiled hearth as the main focal point, a custom-made sofa, a bearskin rug sculpted from wood and ceramic chandeliers. To create the bespoke tiles and realize the hearth’s unique surround, the artists worked with the legendary Rookwood Pottery Company. Wall treatments incorporating print and projection complete the vignette. Beyond that is an area with a sunken dining table and extremely low hanging light fixtures, forcing intimacy among those who gather there. Finally, the rear of the gallery is conceived of as the “backyard,” where a large tree house takes advantage of the space’s increased height and light. Functioning as a type of living space, the exhibition is only considered complete when visitors occupy it. Additionally, the space will be used to host various programs and performances during the run.

building the fireplace

Our fireplace looks huge! We are getting closer and closer to seeing these pieces upright, and I am thrilled. Steve and Ericka, the Rookwood master woodworkers are building two modular fireplace set ups for us - so we can move/crate the pieces, install easily, and then eventually deinstall. One fireplace is going to ICFF this May in New York, the other to the CAC. This is progress.

tile mural in progress

Working on piping glaze in our giant mural that is going above our fireplace... inspired by Rookwood, Over the Rhine, Indian tapestries, and the Garden of Earthly Delights (definitely a long-standing favorite). We are getting close here.

heros

We are printing up a storm at Rookwood - and by we I mean Terence Hammonds (collaborator and master printer). For the main panels in our fireplace (progress pics coming soon) we decided to celebrate our ceramic heros. Above, Josiah Wedgwood - who was a potter, abolitionist, and worked with colored slips and unglazed porcelain way before it was cool.

The Rug

Here is another bear project that we have in the works, though hard to tell, this is a life size bear head sliced up and cnc milled out of black walnut from a 3-d scan of one of our odd animal finds. The parts seen here get reassembled to complete the form.
This is a really exciting project for the Living Room show coming up at the Contemporary Arts Center. The bear head is just part of a complete wooden bear skin rug that is a collaboration with these really great industrial designers, Such + Such.

big time

GIANT 3d print of our Rookwood honeybear. It has gone from a small figurine to the size of our dog.
Its moldmaking time.

the kansas city star

Dana Self just wrote a LOVELY article in the Kansas City Star about our show at Belger/Red Star in Kansas City. You can read the entire article here. And Dana if you are reading this - thank you so much! Our show is up for one more week, so if you are in or around KCMO we highly recommend checking it out for yourself...

the mantel

Our Rookwood fireplace mantel - in the works... We spent our Thanksgiving break making sprig molds - and I am really loving the effect of piling them on. Can't wait to get this sucker glazed!

hyperallergic

We just wanted to say a giant thank you to Alicia Eler for the amazing write up on Hyperallergic about our work at Belger/Red Star. She totally nailed it. You can read the entire article here. 

progress

Our Rookwood fireplace is coming along... We have images for the mural, tests in the kiln, and a pile of sprig molds to work with.

installation photos - Red Star/Belger Arts Center

 

 

Installation images from our solo show at Red Star/Belger Arts Center. (finally) You can see more images of our show on Red Star's website here. The show runs through the end of January, so if you are in Kansas City, stop by and tell Michael and Mo we say hello!
All photos courtesy of Red Star Studios and Belger Arts Center

The Living Room Fireplace

This is the beginning of a huge project, and another new endeavor with artists and industry. We are working on The Living Room, an exhibition for the Contemporary Art Center opening this May. Terence Hammonds, Katie, and myself are collaborating with Rookwood Pottery on a ceramic fireplace. We will be altering Rookwoods modularly designed fireplace with utopian ideologies in both form and image. Here is the first day as we plan our layout. Whats amazing about working this way is that no singular entity involved could ever make what will come alone, and we all have something to bring to the table. Anything can happen here.

lovely lithophanes

Our lithophane tumblers on display - thank you so much to Michael and Brock for their innovative solution to lighting these pieces! 

Made in china - a series of 21 tumblers with lithophane bottoms.
porcelain, 5" x 2.75" each

one of many

A quick image from our show at the Belger Arts Center and Red Star Studios... The Alphonso Taft busts reinstalled with Bruce Goff inspired tiles and sconces. The battleship grey wall gives Alphonso a much darker look - referencing his old Skull and Bones days.

setting up

Setting up at the Belger Arts Center/Red Star - not too shabby company. 

coming soon

One week from tomorrow! Stop by and say hello... Red Star Studios at the Belger Arts Center, opening Friday October 5th. 

ovals

New ovals, fresh from the RPC! Looks like we have a pretty solid plan for this weekend - glazing more tiles and framing out our new wallpaper.

tile backdrop

Working on a tiled wall piece for our upcoming show. This base will replace the one you see here to display our Alphonso Taft heads redux.

base

New base carved by plaster master GMD. It amazes me to this day how he can turn a block of plaster into this - my brain and hands just don't work that way. We are gearing up for a 20 foot tile wall, this base fitting exactly into the patterning... more photos soon.

back to work

More pieces in the works for our KC show at the Belger Arts Center. I feel like we are starting to really see some of our ideas taking shape...
Nymphenburg still life #3 in progress

mao and monkey

From Jingdezhen, more porcelain monkeys. Katie made the piece on the left, Mike the piece on the right - but you probably knew that already.
Tiny Monkeys, 6" x 5" x 4" each, porcelain and china paint, 2012

back

We are back from China! It turns out that blogger is blocked throughout the country, so I had my brother post a couple photos from my phone. Jingdezhen and The Pottery Workshop were amazing, I can't stop thinking about how to get back as soon as possible. Above is the studio  - one of the last days when all the work started coming out of the kilns. As soon as everything gets unpacked and the dust settles we will post more images. 

Mao

Week one in Jingdezhen China. I couldn't resist...

old technology

Rapid prototyping in Jingdezhen

Jingdezhen

We are heading to Jingdezhen China (the porcelain capitol of the WORLD) next week to spend a month at The Pottery Workshop! We will do our best to post images and works in progress to this blog during our stay.  If there is only radio silence instead - we will be taking a ton of photos and will update upon return... Here goes nothing.

Model Citizens NYC

Images from the Model Citizens show last week in Soho. We rearranged our oval plaques from this exhibition, and made them a little more elaborate and over the top. It seems like every year when design week rolls around it gets us thinking about new work, and we end up showing small experiments that propel us into larger scale installations. Look for more gold leaf and architectural detailing later this summer - as this piece definitely points to where we are heading next. 

The warehouse space in Soho on Mercer Street. Two beautiful giant empty floors. 

printing

Printing tiles at Rookwood Pottery, round 2. From the amazing minds of Terence Hammonds and Guy Michael Davis. A 70's biker couple with a dollar bill backdrop. LOVE IT. Easily the best tile of the day.