Aaron Murray: Aaron Murray Seattle

Showing posts with label Aaron Murray Seattle. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Life of Pelicans

When I'm in the Humboldt Bay

I love to watch the Pelicans play

They dance on water thrashing about

diving head first water on snout

In the fog you can only hear the splash

of the pelican diving in for the catch

No tern, nor skimmer could make such a sound

as the pelican diving heard all around

At the marina, where dinner is had

the pelican is circling-- and then a crash!

It appears to be gone but is really swimming near

a beak full of minnows and water running rear.

Then it pops to the surface

growing rings made from flapping wings

the pelicans of Humboldt are

One of those happy things.

Aaron Murray, 2014

Pelican 2014, coil built at Kirkland Art Center using LF-06 earthenware, majolica glaze, rutile, brown and black underglazes. 81/2 inch tall

Pelican 2014, Coil built using Vashon White clay with grog, fired to cone 6. Mayco Alabaster glaze, various stains and under glazes

2 pelicans made in January 2014, Coil built using same glaze and clay as above. Note: one pelican has a hand-pinched fish in it's beak.

Pelican with fish, 2014, coil built, 10 inches tall, 15 inches in length

fishy

detail portrait

Pair of Pelicans, 2014.

More Coil Built Pelicans of various sizes

Swimming Pelicans, extruder and slab constructed. These are my latest invention, Creating pelicans from an extruded clay tube. These are 5 inches tall and about 7-8 inches in length. I used a mix of vashon brown, ckk 6 porcelain, and vashon white clay. Made in February 2014

detail

Extruder Pelicans

pelican portrait

Standing Pelican

Pelican Portrait

Porcelain Pelicans, These are some earlier pelicans. The large one is coil built. The smaller ones are pinched. I try to make them in various poses to give them personality.

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Unicorn Skulls and the Pegasusunicorngiraffe

One day while walking by

a glint in the sky caught my eye

I looked up and saw flying past

a pegasus unicorn giraffe

It's wings soared above the trees

and it's fluttering shook the leaves

it flew into a cloud and dove fast

this pegasus unicorn giraffe

Then it landed nearby

it was a sight I couldn't deny

and i tried real hard not to laugh

at the pegasus unicorn giraffe

pegasus-unicorn-giraffe

the pegasus-unicorn-gira-affe

pegasus-unicorn-giraffe

a pegasus-unicorn-giraf-af-af-af

Unicorn Skull coil built stoneware, glaze, rutile stain, and white gold overglaze

These unicorn skulls are built using coils. Coils are strings of clay that can be used to built complex shapes. By adding such a small amount of clay at a time, you can easily control whatever you are building. You can also prevent cracks, like the one seen in the image above by using a little slip between each coil.

Unicorn Skull detail

A large Pegiracorn in progress

I also use coils to build larger free-standing sculptures. This is a pegasus unicorn giraffe, or pegiracorn built with earthenware. I glazed it with majolica glaze and rutile spots. It and another spent a few months at SEATAC airport during NCECA

Unicorn skull sans horn

murrequis unicornis humboldt

Since it is difficult to make all skulls exactly alike, I like to imagine that the unicorn evolved over time, much like horses. Therefore, I can assign names to delineate their specie.

Murrequis unicornis americus

unicorn evolution

Murrequis unicornis regnordicus stoneware with white underglaze, rutile stain, and Regnor's Gloss Glaze. Fired to cone 10 in Kirkland, WA

Unicorn skull with 22k gold luster horn

I enjoy the challenge of making complex sculptures. Making any skull can be difficult. I usually use images of horse skulls to help me along, but sometimes I get carried into imaginary traits.

pegasusunicorngiraffe pinched porcelain with stains and glaze

There it stood upon the ground
and there it did not make a sound
I did not think that this vision would last
of the pegasusunicorn giraffe*

I shook my head and closed my eyes
I even reached down to pinch my thigh
I blinked and blinked but standing by
was the pegasusunicorn giraffe

So I yelled with all my might
" what strange creature has entered my sight?"
but the beast did not respond
it just leaped into the air---and flew on

It was a pegasus-unicorn giraffe
pegasus-unicorn-gira-affe
pegasus-unicorn-giraffe
pegasus-unicorn-gira-affe-affe-af-af

*note: The pegasusunicorngiraffe or pegiracorn as it is otherwise known lives near Mount Olympus in the rain forest. It can occasionally be seen flying across the sky at dawn and dusk. It has also been spotted near Sequim down at "the Spit" but usually likes to avoid crowds of people.

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Grunge City

Foulee Market watercolor on paper 2011

Grunge City
Visions of South Seattle and beyond

Truck Repair
watercolor and gouache on paper
2010

Fortuna Cafe
watercolor and gouache on paper
2011

Beacon and Columbia
acrylic on wood
2011-2012

detail

Surplus Too
acrylic on wood
2012-2013

Hudson Warehouse
Acrylic on canvas
2011-2012

Vac Shop
acrylic on wood
2012-2013

Sun Mart
acrylic on paper
2010-2011

The Lodge
ink on paper
2011

beacon and columbia
ink on paper
2011

On some occasions I like to only use sumi ink and water (left and right). The ink allows for great tonal qualities that can evoke mood and feeling. Watercolors on the other hand create washes and gradients of color, that blend to enliven an image. Acrylic and oils give opacity, firmness and a rich texture. I also like egg tempera.

Portland Warehouse
ink and watercolor on paper
2011

Last House in Chinatown
acrylic on wood
2012

Grunge City is a current series of paintings based on interesting places in Portland and Seattle, particularly South of Jackson Street. I began in 2011 to replicate images based on real places that captured my interest.The series is an extension of work previously made from 2007-2009 and are also perhaps an evolution from the viaduct series executed in 1998-2002. This newer series of paintings reveal my growth as a painter, which has been an intermittent passion between kiln firings and sculpture. I find a certain solace painting especially in the winter when the weather calls one indoors. The clay often being too cold, and the outside being a little too wet makes one yearn for a sweater, a hot cup, and a warm bowl. With a paint brush in hand and plenty of patience, a picture will emerge that delights the senses. I look for interesting places and buildings with some wear. These places reveal the fragility of time, and are a reflection of the now. In the future, if these paintings survive, they may become a snapshot into our past.

Paintings in progress

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Owlware

In addition to making sculptures I enjoy making pots on a wheel. Lately I have made a series of cups, bowls, and vases with owls depicted on them in underglaze. The pots are made from clay bodies that fire at cone 6 and cone 10. At Alki Beach where I teach classes, we use clay and glazes that fire at cone 6, because we only have an electric kiln. I make pots from a porcelain body called ckk6, another yellow stoneware called Vashon White, a Vashon Brown, and a Kalama Red. Some are also hybrids from various bodies mixed together. At Kirkland Arts Center we use cone 10 bodies. These are generally more hard, and have more color due to reduction firing and heavy iron in the clay. We use Laguna B Mix as a white stoneware. In some ways it takes on a porcelain consistency. I also occasionally throw Columbia White, Dakota Red, and Rod's Bod-- a gritty iron heavy clay.

Cone 6 porcelain teacup

cone 6 porcelain, bronze glaze, underglazes, clear gloss glaze

Cone 10 stoneware, Bryan's Matte white glaze with black stain on eyes and talons

Some owl ware is carved. I like to add texture and carving is a way to add detail. I carve the pieces when they are leather -hard. I like to use repetition to create pattern. Numbers play a role. Sometimes I like to count as I carve, other times I'll look for mathematical meaning within the work, as crazy as it sounds.