This was my first post of the year:
This year I want to continue teaching
polymer clay but for my own personal creative work I just want to "do what inspires me", as I spent so much of last year preparing teaching material and
samples. In particular I want to:
1. Focus on one-off artworks/sculptures
to sell through galleries, gallery stores and selected shops.
2. Experiment with lighting, starting
with translucent polymer clay covered candle holders and then larger scale
electric lighting (this may involve some non-polymer clay materials for larger
scale pieces but it is something that really inspires me).
3. Try and win an international polymer
clay award, to add credibility to my teaching ability.
4. Expand locations to teach polymer
clay workshops.
When
I look back over this year, some things I have
achieved and others have fallen by the wayside. Sadly I do not feel I
have spent that much time doing what inspires me, partly because other things
have happened (the first four months of the year were spent on my application
to CreativeNZ, for a grant to attend the EuroSynergy Conference in Malta, which
was successful; then organising for and attending the event at the end of
April/beginning of May, which was a fantastic opportunity) and partly because I
have been working through a backlog of old ideas and completing unfinished projects.’
1. I
have created a number of one-off sculptures: ‘Rainbow Cauldron’, ‘Colour Play’
(wall hanging), ‘Global Reflections’ and ‘Colour Rings’. As I have only sold one
these and still have my ‘Out-of-this-World’ sculpture, I am running out of
storage space in my small studio. This is making me think that I would be
better going back to 2-D artwork which I can hang on the wall. Also, as
mentioned in my post of 1 October, I want to spend more time developing my ‘dot
mosaics’.
2. I
have made some LED candle holders with
polymer clay over spherical glass bowls. These are quite effective but I still
need to do more experimentation to be able to make large self-supporting hollow
polymer globes that could be used as lampshades for electrical lamp bases. My fear
is that polymer may not be strong enough at the thinness required for
translucency and that I might have to move to a different medium to achieve the
effects I have in mind.
3. The
receipt of a ‘Best in Sculpture’ award for ‘Spring Trio’ at the 2014 IPCAwards,
presented at the EuroSynergy Conference in Malta, was the highlight of this year
for me. It gave me a tremendous confidence boost but then actually made it
really hard for me to create anything new, as I was scared that whatever I did
next would not live up to my winning piece.
4. Apart
from teaching a short course of polymer clay evening classes at Glaze Ltd,
other polymer clay workshops have waned because of lack of participants, which
is disappointing after the amount of time I spent last year preparing teaching
material. This year has led me to review the workshops I offer. I had hoped
that teaching through recognised art centres would make it easier to attract
students than doing the promotion myself. Whether it is a sign of the times or
still the fact that New Zealanders are not aware of or interested in polymer
clay, I am not sure. Anyway, I have decided to take a year out of teaching so I
can concentrate on my own work and will only teach small groups of up to four, at
home, if approached.
Once
I have developed my dot mosaics further, I might look at teaching workshops on
this technique, with the emphasis on contemporary mosaics rather than polymer
clay. It seems such a shame to do this but I so enjoyed the teaching and apart
from the few regular members of the Auckland Polymer Clay Guild, it seems so
hard to raise general interest in polymer clay. This is why I may have to place
the emphasis on mosaics – and then introduce polymer clay through the back
door.
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