Arty Cats

It was great to have so many encouraging comments on face book when I announced that my cat creation was being exhibited in Faenza, Italy. And several people said show us your stuff.... so here are some pics from Artegatto Artefatto which translates to Arty Cat Artifact.

First I need to explain that creating this cat had a few extra challenges.

1. Different clay than I am used to which is  great for throwing pots on the wheel but not so great for sculpture work as it cracks very easily as it dries or is fired in the kiln. Hence several attempts cracked up literally.

2. I have to wait until the pottery school fills it's enormous kiln for my work to be fired... and as there have been less students this time of year the firings have been  infrequent ... fortunately one of my kind tutors with a small kiln at home offered to bisque fire for me at the last minute.

3. BUT that left no time for glazing so I had to go with the flow,  adapt and accept I had done my best in the circumstances and exhibit it  'unfinished' according to my original plan.

All of this makes me more impatient to get back home to Tassie and set up my own studio, wire in the kiln and wallow in clay to my hearts content. And the other thing my heart desires will have to go on the wait list indefinitely at this stage.

I was just a little excited...



It's called 'flat cat'.



The little gallery was packed with people for the opening of the exhibition at Bottega Bertaccini which is also a book shop.  

I felt reassured when I saw several other unglazed artworks  amongst those assorted arty cats. Just how many ways can you create a clay cat???  At least 60!

 

 And this spiky hissy cat was mostly made from metal.

Italy has traditionally produced majolica painted ceramics and this is the focus of the ceramic classes I have been attending. I am keen to learn to throw well but  don't want to spend hours then painting. I have tried to find ways to decorate a few pieces that are faster. Here are a few of my efforts:

And for those that don't know what sort of things I usually make here is an angel pig sculpture I made just before I came to Italy. The decorating techniques are really different and  I find majolica  more difficult.