FIGURATIVE SCULPTURE

In the 1970s when I was making my porcelain buttons and cabinet knobs, I sculpted little improvised porcelain figures that brought me great personal pleasure. In the 1990s, a painting and drawing on clay workshop at the Oregon School of Arts and Crafts led me to a body of work in working with slabs of bisque fired clay. I began building up the details of the face with clay in the very last piece I made in that series, and created many pieces large and small that were set into wood boxes that are painted with acrylic paint along with the ceramic face. A few of those pieces are available in my paintings section here.

In 2018, I took a narrative sculpture class at Oregon College of Arts and Crafts, which has brought me to my present day 3 dimensional figurative sculpture work. Working in three dimensions (beyond buttons and knobs) is a wonderful challenge. New work will be uploaded as it is completed. And you can view more of my pieces in my Blessing Totems and Petite-Blessing Totems pages.

← Back to Figurative Sculpture

The Dreaming Palm-Wine Drinkard

$275.00

Formed with akio clay, this maquette (small study for a larger sculpture) is hand painted with underglaze after bisque firing and then glazed with cone 5 glazes, both clear and with color. The piece was stained with black underglaze after bisque firing and before other colorants were painted on.

I used the press mold I made for my Mini-Blessing Totems for the face, then formed the head and added the “palm leaves”. Then the body was formed with clay embossed with a palm leaf pattern formed to resemble the trunk of a palm tree so the maquette stands solidly on the earth.

It stands 9” tall by 3 ½” wide, and 3 ½ in length. The title of this figure is from a book called The Palm-Wine Drinkard, a Nigerian story that I was assigned to read at a UCLA design class in the late 1960s. Read the book by Amos Tuotola of this Yoruban folk tale to know the story!

Add To Cart