Hidden Clay, Inner Clay

We are all shape-shifters and magical re-inventors.  Life is really a plural noun, a caravan of selves.

~Diane Ackermann

before

after:

 

Charlene Doiron Reinhart

Hidden Nature, Inner Self

24" x 18" x 6"

Earthenware ceramic with porcelain leaves and egg, terra sigillata, underglazes, glazes

Sometimes I hesitant to glaze work.  It will stick around in bisque, looking sad and lifeless, getting dusty on the studio shelf. I have to reacquaint myself and get back into the piece.  See beyond the beige or brickness. 

This piece, however, just knew what it wanted.  I started out with something completely different in mind. Hidden Nature determined to be just as it is.  The face area is the raw clay with no glaze, no terra sigillata.  I burnished it at leather-hard stage. It has a lovely, satin finish and feel. The neck area has some red art terra sig, buffed lightly with my finger tip.  I did this as the terra sig was a tone darker and bring the face forward.  It is hard to see the bird's eye--it is bright blue.  The black collar is a very shiny gloss.  The bird's head has a cap of black gloss, too.  It has a quirky edge to it...that little bit of shiny glaze...birds of a feather...kind of feel. A bird's eye view of an inner nature......