| Ceramic hive is art for all ages |
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| Written by DAVID DUPONT Sentinel Arts & Entertainment Editor | ||||||
| Friday, 20 July 2012 08:51 | ||||||
"Lots," she said. Mary Mennel, 577 director, said more than 40 people turned out to assist the eight-foot-tall clay sculpture, and she and the board hope many more will enjoy it. The foundation brought the Oklahoma artist to Perrysburg to build the structure after a twig structure on site deteriorated and had to be removed. "What we really wanted was something interactive," Mennel said. "We wanted to get the community involved." That meant more than 40 volunteers helping in the construction process from preparing the site through stripping off the ceramic fiber insulation used to create a kiln to fire the work. Mennel was familiar with the sculpture Spencer had created at the Toledo Botanical Garden and at the University of Toledo. Mennel had money left to her following the death of her mother as well as a memorial in her mother's honor created by the 577 board and a separate grant from Owens-Corning. Bundling those gave them the funds to bring Spencer to the foundation. Now that it's finished visitors are able to do more than look at the piece. Visitors, especially youngsters will be able to step inside, and if they sing, hear their voices resonate inside the comb. Spencer's selection was also appropriate because she's "remarkable ... she's an artist who can teach." Her approach of using volunteers, including many of the foundation's pottery students, "fit perfectly in the philosophy of 577." Spencer arrived in June. A concrete base underground was in place. In the middle a large fire pit was dug, and around that Spencer wrapped the snake-like coils of specially formulated clay. She left some openings shaped like leaves, and decorated the structure with the occasional vine. Once finished the piece was left to dry for a couple weeks.
During firing the volunteers helped the artist feed the fire inside the sculpture at 20-minute intervals. Spencer monitored the heat with combs with four teeth made of ceramic composite. Each tooth melts at a certain temperature. Spencer had to balance getting the exterior hot enough without letting the inside getting overheated. The heat must be slowly reduced, and the structure left to cool. On Sunday morning the sculpture was cool enough to strip away the layers of insulation revealing the almost finished artwork. The terra cotta hued clay has a film of ash that needed to be brushed off. Inevitably there are cracks that Spencer needed to fill. Then the structure will be coated to help protect it from the elements. Spencer has created about 20 of these larger pieces. The inspiration came from the ceramic whistles she was making. "When you get started as an artist's like a journey," she said. "One idea leads to another idea." Natural forms inspired the form of the whistles. They are not intended as musical instruments - early on she tried making instruments, and dropped the idea. Instead the sounds they produce are intended to be "the voice of the sculpture." They are sensory art: "You can touch it, see it, feel it, hear it. It makes the sculpture come alive." Some of the sculptures though were so large that their deep voices were hard to hear in open spaces. So Spencer started thinking about creating an enclosed space for them to be heard.
The forms were inspired by the nests created by mud daubers in her grandfather's barn in Oklahoma. She watch the wasps constructing their nests by carrying bits of dirt. Spencer uses a clay specially developed for the project from Laguna that includes half pre-fired material to minimize the cracking that occurs as the clay fires. Though originally created as a venue for the large whistles, Spencer said she finds them a better vehicle for the human voice. The voice can find the particular pitches that best resonate in the chambers. The structures themselves evoke images from nature and indigenous people's huts yet do not duplicate those forms. "One of the ideas I play with is having something familiar but you just can't place it," she said. "It seems like an old friend."
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| Last Updated on Friday, 20 July 2012 10:27 |
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