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Construction sequence: Carved in the leather -hard stage. Fired initially to cone 04. Black underglaze applied. Refired to cone 6. China paint overglazes applied in layers and fired again to cone 015. Overglazes and refirings repeated three more times. Opalescent glaze applied to wings. Final firing to cone 017. Gold leaf and Baroque gilding added to back of wings and to anchor as cold finishes.
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Size: 15.0" x 14.5" x 7.0".
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Date: 2006.
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Exhibited at the Seen Gallery, Decatur, GA.
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Sold.
Enlarged View
Creative Process
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The origin of this piece was a dried seahorse that my son, Josh, had given me years ago. I created a press mold from it. From this I began adorning a new teabag. I then added a seahorse pattern onto the "fabric" surface. As the work evolved, I visualized the whole shape of the work itself as an abstracted form of a seahorse, devoid of the bag aspect.
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Thus begn the exciting process of creating Teahorses. I toyed with the idea of making the piece mobile, like a rocking horse. I made some large drawings and preliminary molds of clay and plaster. The seahorse body was made by carving and fusing two press-mold body halves together. The unified body figure was attached to the base to make a hollow teapot structure. A spout was added projecting from the base. Then i detached the head of the seahorse to create a lid for the teapot.
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At first, the base actually rocked, but later I felt it preferable to make the base stable, tilting the whole piece upward slightly. The zebra pattern was chosen from among the real-life patterns of seahorse, includng leopard and zebra designs, as most consistent with the overall feeling of the piece. China overglaze paints, obtained from Germany, were used to provide the shimmering oceanic coloration to the base. Baroque gilding was also applied to the undersides of the wings and the underbelly of the wave stand, alongside the gold leaf.
Detailed Views
