I spend a fair amount of time in my search for reference material for my sculptures and pottery.  In one of my recent searches I came across Daniel Murtagh.  He is a photographer who in his own words, ““My work has been described as victorian noir. For me it is a form of alchemy and poetry.” Daniel Murtagh’s work explores the notion of presence, the experience of a person not merely seen but also felt. The influences of both film and painting combine to create a feeling of time suspended.”

I greatly enjoyed looking through his portfolio and getting a look into his creative eye.  I recommend taking a moment to look through his work*.  Seeing other peoples artistic vision helps me to define my own.

– Jerel

*There is some nudity in his portfolio.

Classes are officially over, next week is finals.  I will continue to work out of the BYU Studio over the Summer, there is allot going on in my head and I need to get it out in clay!  One of my assignments over the past semester was to pick an artist and start by mimicking their work and style.  Then continue to make work that uses elements of their work, but in the process add my own elements.  The idea is that by the time you get to your fourth or fifth piece they will be yours and not the other artists.  For this assignment I picked Mariana Monteagudo.  She has done a series of ceramic mixed-media dolls that I really enjoy.  I started by appropriating her work at least in the doll’s form and composition and now I am working through a series that really has me excited.  I am looking forward to finishing them so I can post some pictures of the final work for you all to see.  I have been drawn to figurative work for the past few years and this is a great way for me to explore those avenues and include elements from my previous work.  I really feel like things are starting to come together for me.

On another note, besides selling my work I have picked up a part-time job at a local company, “Fossil Logic”, where I am working as a sculptor repairing and sculpting dinosaur fossils.  It is a pretty exciting job.  We get the fossils straight from the field where they have been packed in their field jackets and we remove the rock and debris from the fossil.  Then we repair and sculpt the missing pieces of the fossils and skeletons, then assemble them together on the armatures that we make to hold the display.  It has been great to be working in a similar vein to what I have been studying in school and to get a chance to exercise my artistic muscles.  I have been learning new techniques and mediums that will be of a great benefit to me in the future.

I received an email the other day informing me that the book “500 Raku” will be released March 1, 2011.  You may ask why is this important enough for me to post here on my BLOG?  It is simply because one of MY PIECES will be included in the book!  I am really excited about being published.  The book is available for preorder at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. The book is published by Lark Books; they have the following to say about this new addition to their library of published books:

“Raku is an ancient ceramics technique enjoying a modern-day renaissance. This groundbreaking new entry in the highly successful 500 series demonstrates the vitality and invention of today’s raku ceramics. Objects including cups, plates, bowls, vases, and statuary contribute to this international gallery of work juried by Jim Romberg, one of the leading practitioners and teachers of raku in the world.”

So head on over and pick up a copy for yourselves.

In other news, things are steadily going forward.  I am taking two classes up at BYU this term.  Ceramics Studio and a Special Topics “Contemporary Issues in Craft”  Both classes are amazing.  In the Contemporary Issues is Craft class were are learning Archeological reading styles and studying Post-Modernism and how it relates to other era’s.  It is a class to help me define my voice and gain a better understanding of where I want to take my art and what I want to say with it.  I feel growing pains in my noggin already.