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Dirt , 2008 (in progress)
Dirt, ceramic

This project is just beginning. Here's the plan:
1) Collect dirt from various locations I frequently visit
2) Add heat (fire in ceramic test bowls in a kiln)

Here's my first sample. It's from a planter on the way to Bart from Paule Anglim Gallery.

This idea of working with dirt as a glaze came from a ceramic sculpture installation I was planning. The installation got criticized by a ceramic professor due to the use of dirt... dirt is not a ceramic material. Personally, I could care less about working solely with ceramic materials but it got me thinking... this installation was intended to create an underground environment for my sculptures. It would be really great if I could incorporate the notion of underground into the surface treatment. The dirt as a glaze could make my subterranean sculptures self-sufficient maybe. Like gills. Who knows.

List of dirt locations:

1) 2/02/08 One Post St, SF (Paule Anglim)
2) 2/06/08 Planter by my front door
3) 2/08/08 Low tide of the estuary at Laney
4) 2/12/08 Church's chicken p-lot
5) 2/13/08 Median in front of Leslie
6) 2/15/08 Planter by my back door
7) 2/15/08 Rocks from my side yard
8) 2/16/08 de Young Museum
9) 2/18/08 Troy's fireplace ashes
10) 2/19/08 Rocks from dead bamboo

11) 2/19/08 Dead plant at Troy's