New Piece in Progress

Currently working on a headphone display 'android head'.

Need: The Human Condition

"Need". Ceramic bisque fired & asphaltum glazed w/varnish. About 6-7 inches high. A continuance of "The Crucified" series.

Perspective

"One Way Perspective" (Part of the Crucified Series). Clay. Bisque fired with asphaultum glaze/varnish. About 7-inches high.

Cat Dreams #2

"Cat Dreams #2" Digital Media.

Raven Shamans

Ceramic. Red clay bisque fired, asphaltum glazed and varnished. About 6-7 inches tall.

These are a few of a series I've been working on for the past 6 months. The Raven occupies a unique niche in folklore stories and is often associated with Shamanistic visions. I enjoy creating these -- attempting to give each their own personality and attitude.

Moon Shaman Totem

Moon Shaman. Carved driftwood, rocks and acrylics. About 3-feet tall. Circa 2003.

This is loosely styled on the Haida Moon Shaman carvings and dates from a time when I was exploring driftwood scuptures. Now in my private collection.

Sins of the Fathers Part 3

"Sins of the Fathers #3" © BG Dodson 2008. Mixed Media. 6" x 5" approx. Clay box with fused glass & Intel Pentium processor.

This is the result of a 2-step firing. The first firing had me hoping I'd managed to capture everything I wanted -- but the window glass I'd overlayed the Pentium chip with cracked free and fell off. I layered on more clear glass with a touch of stained glass and re-fired. This looks a bit more solid.

I'm really thinking now I need to fire at a lower temperature than cone 04. A trip to the clay store is in order (since I'd never considered I *MIGHT* want to fire at something like cone 012).

I'm out of available boxes at this juncture, so my fervour shall have to wait.

Sins of the Fathers Part 2

Mixed media. 6" x 5.5". Fused glass (stained glass, broken bottles, window glass) & vacuum tubes in a clay box. This is the result of 2 firings for glass fusing. The first time around I ended up with empty spaces and I wasn't happy with the vacuum tube results - so I layered clear window glass over them for the 2nd firing.

The exploration continues. The kiln is firing yet again... I have decided the boxes need to possess more 'elegance' and some sort of matte fizzled glaze. I have built several new boxes to this purpose and hope to fire them to bisque this coming weekend.

The Sins of the Fathers

This began as an experiment in fusing glass within a clay box...an idea born simply out of curiosity.

The metal pieces at the base are vacuum tubes (which apparently - logically must implode when melted) -- the bones of the Fathers of Technology. This then, is a reliquary of those remains. Charred by the streamed heat of the furnace, they exist yet -- in the shadow of the new Solid State faith.

The remainder of the glass used is smashed wine bottles and stained glass. The stained glass definitely fuses most lovely at cone 04. I tossed a few nails in amidst the glass and the remains of those offer a blackened gritty texture.

This process intrigues me greatly and even now, I have more boxes in progress -- and two more boxes in firing.

Raven Transformation

"Raven Transformation" Clay. Bisque fired to cone 04. Painted with acrylics. Varnished. Approx. lifesized.

This is the first all-ceramic mask (well....the only one really) I have created. The idea is the transformation of the self....into a projection of something more than we often see ourselves as capable of. The willingness to take on mysteries....creativity....the flight of the self into the darkness of the unknown -- yet armed with the certainty of wings.

Becoming Buddha

I have sat,
shadowed in words

blinded
blinded

by the brilliant light
of Sister Radio Sujata
in a hellaceous back beat
blown out of the tundra
earth, ice and air
reverberated in thin thunder
of shimmered heat lightning

delta wet
desert smooth
forest sighed

until I found myself
lost in the jet stream
somewhere over Tusita
and become Buddha Maitreya
again
again

listening intently to
the deepening song
of this darkling plain
uttered in burn
of blossomed sigh
accompanied by
golden temple bells
tolling masses to notice
dharma all have forgotten
in a final karma
of eschatology
when all possible worlds collapse
into eight-fold paper crows
falling to earth
beneath the Bo-tree

and I become
Buddha again