Hot Catz

Hot Catz

   The Hot Catz are a group of cat characters that were first developed about 6 years ago. 

   The Hot Catz theme was further developed as I began depicting them on cups and bowl in various scenarios.  Hot Catz in space, Hot Catz Interview, Hot Catz in Hatz, Hot Catz on Film, were a few of many ideas I developed for them.  I also made relief block prints, some comic strips, and many drawings for this theme.  

   Previous to the Hot Catz explosion, I had made a few cat figurines that I mostly sold in Occidental Park during 1st Thursday Art Walks, or at Pike Place Market.   This year I decided to re-explore cats through pinching and by using and altering extruded forms.  This lead to the creation of new bodies of work.

cat pendants before application of over glazes

Extruded cat

I made a series of cat pendants as a line of jewelry (left), Raku-fire extruded cats(above left), electric fired black cats, and a series of high fire multi colored extruded cats (right)

Raku-fired Hot Catz

The Raku firing process is full of excitement and pleasantly surprising results.  I fire these at the Kirkland Art Center in their clamshell Raku kiln to about 1900 degrees F.

Most of the extruded cats will be high-fired.  They become waterproof and non-porous at those temperatures.  Three new high-fired cats are depicted in the photo directly below. There will be brown, black, white, gray, spotted, yellow, and tan Catz.

 These cat pendants are also fired high (cone 10) They are pinched from white stoneware.  They are glazed with opaque glazes, with stains used for attributes and a gold over glaze on the eyes.  These cat pendants can be found at Fancy in Seattle.

 I made a series of extruded cats using a black clay body called Midnight Black.  It fires pretty dark at about cone 4.  I glazed them in a clear gloss and accented their eyes with underglazes.

Hippocatz

The Hippocats are an extension of the Hot Catz.  The cats and the hippo live symbiotically.

Hot Catz Olympics

And of course I had to make some more Hot Catz dishware.  This is a series of cups.

Hot Catz on Mars

Hot Catz cup collection

Hot Cats cups in profile

The original Hot Cat... a drawing of my cat Lil'

Oh! Deer!

Oh ! Deer!


I decided to make some deer for the holidays this year.  The deer are pinched and pulled from stoneware clay at my house on Beacon Hill. I bisque fire them at Alki Beach.    I glazed them with paprika, Ohata Kaki, and tenmouku glazes and fired them to cone 10 at the Kirkland Arts Center.  Each deer is unique and is stylized in a general way to look deer-like.  None are meant to represent a particular deer species.  

mixed herd

Paprika glazed with tenmouku glaze on horns and black underglaze on face and hooves

Ohata Kaki glaze with Tenmouku over

Antlers

Mixed Herd

Other attempts to make deer have been made, but this is the first time I've made a herd of 3 or more.  It is always a challenge to make them, especially the horns.  This is the first batch of ten.  I have twenty more on the way to being fired.  Special thanks to Pat Collyar, Wayne Pennington, and the KAC gas firing squad.  

Stuffs : Ceramic Plush

        Stuffs 

These are sculptures based roughly on plush animals.  As a child I owned several different animals made from various materials.  These plush toys were often a source of comfort.  As an only child that often spent time alone, these plush friends would often act out scenarios that were important to helping me understand the complexity in the human relationships that I was witnessing on television and in real life.  

These sculptures were also made by stuffing various papers inside and in support of various slab and pinched forms.  Their hollow bodies were created by burning out the paper inside.  I used stains, oxides, and under glazes for  coloration, and used glaze as accents on certain attributes.  

Brown Bear

Glazed and stained earthenware,

The Brown Bear and the Cow Boy were both made from a white earthenware body.  I found that at the lower temperatures, some of my stains weren't melting to the desired texture that I was looking for.  So I began constructing the other Stuffs using stoneware.  The stoneware also adds durability to the pieces, as they are fired to a much higher temperature in a gas kiln.

Cow Boy
Glazed and stained earthenware

Cow Boy Detail

I made these sculptures by using various construction methods.  Most are a combination of slab, extruded, and pinched forms that are assembled by scoring and slipping.  Sometimes I will also use coils as reinforcement and to fill minor gaps.

Elephant

Stained Stoneware with clear gloss accents

I used various stain applications on the surface of each sculpture.  I used some commercial Seattle Pottery Supply (SPS) underglazes that fire to cone 10, in addition to rutile, cobalt, and iron stains.  For  a few I mixed together mason stains with some ball clay.

Hippodancer

Pinched and slab built stoneware15" x 11" x 5"

Teddy Bear
14"x7"x3"

Rutile and underglaze on slab built stoneware

Some of these sculptures were inspired directly by the plush animals I owned as a child.  The bears above and below were attempts to actually reproduce their actual likeness in clay.

Panda Bear

Gunbunny
14"x6"x 4"

The Gunbunny sculpture was based on a resin Easter magnet that I acquired at a craft store back in the 1990's.  The magnet was slightly different in attire, rather than sporting a bow tie, it had a yellow "ribbon" tied around it's neck.

Krazy Kat
20 1/2" x 9" x 4"
Iron stained stoneware

Some of the characters may reflect cartoon characters as well.  Their characteristics give them a personality.  Sometimes I wonder what they would say if they could talk.

Koala
Stoneware with underglazes

The Koala was solely constructed and assembled from pinched forms.  It is also a reproduction of a plush that I have owned since I was a child.

This series is intended to be shown eventually at a public or private venue.  The "Stuffs" collection will eventually consist of 20 or more forms.  Most of the characters will be wall-mounted, with a few free standing as well.