Ceramic Creations by Kozmic Dreams

My Ceramic Creations

Working with clay is definitely one of my top five favorite art media. I have loved clay for as long as I can remember. In fact, I still have a piece I made when I was only 2 years old! Recently, I have been making a lot of aquarium/terrarium homes for my fish/toads to enjoy as well as free-form incense burners. I am also familiar with Raku firing and throwing pots on a wheel (kick and electric).

If you are interested in learning some basics about the use of clay, I have included the text I wrote when I taught the clay unit to my high school art students:

Introduction to Clay text

Below are examples of my ceramic pieces. Click on each thumbnail for a larger view.

Fountain

This is a 4-piece fountain. It was designed with acoustics in mind. Water must trickle down many different protuberances so that it creates interesting sounds on the way. The chamber inside where the water flows also has extra air space for the trickling sounds to reverberate and come out through the small holes near the top.


	Fountain, 2001

Incense Burners

This dragon is actually an incense burner. The tail is detachable and has a place to hold a cone. It is then reinserted into the base and the smoke comes out his nose holes and mouth.

Dragon Incense Burner, 1995

The first two pictures below show the same incense burner from two different angles. The bottom two pictures show a different incense burner from two angles. These were taken before they were fired in the kiln. The middle picture is of both incense burners together after they were fired. Setting between them is one of my favorite trilobites.



	Two incense burners, 2001

Here is a similar incense burner in red clay. The first two pictures are different views. The third picture shows the three pieces that make up the whole burner.

Incense burner created from red clay, 2001

Aquarium and Terrarium Decorations and Homes

Below is the Edgewater Inn. In the first pictures, it is painted with glaze, but has not yet been fired. The second set of photos shows its final appearance. The Edgewater Inn is in my toad terrarium and is enjoyed as a hide-out and soaking area for my toads. The Edgewater Inn is a real motel in Seattle, WA. It is built on a pier so that if you look out your window, the water is right there and you can fish from your window. The Frank Zappa song "Mud Shark" is about this place.

Edgewater Inn (unfired)

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Edgewater Inn (after firing), 2002

Below is my representation of CASL Disco, which is also a Frank Zappa reference. The original CASL Disco was made for the movie "Baby Snakes" from modeling clay by the amazing claymation artist, Bruce Bickford. My ceramic version is currently in my aquarium. I created it as a hangout for my blue botias, which are no longer living. If you look closely inside the second picture, you can see an orange tail. For a long time after the botias' passing, no one really used CASL Disco, although it remained as an aquarium decoration. Finally, in October 2009, I got a new calico goldfish and rubber-lipped plecostomus that decided to explore it once in a while.

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CASL Disco, 2002

CASL Disco with calico goldfish, November 1, 2009

CASL Disco with rubber-lipped plecostomus, November 1, 2009

I'm sad to say that the Green Hotel (which is a Zappa song) did not make it through the firing. It was going to be a three-story lounge pad for my blue botias. It's going to have to be re-built and will probably not look quite like this one. At least I got this picture.

Green Hotel, May 2004

Other Creatures and Sculptures

This red tri-headed creature has not yet been fired. It is my most recent piece and definitely the largest at about 20" tall. I'm not even sure how I'm going to get this one into a kiln. Right now I have no place to fire it, so it's waiting.

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Tri-headed creature, May 2004

I made this one when I was only 13. It is an abstract head with eyes all over it. The toad inside is real. I took, developed and printed this black-and-white photograph in my high school photography class in 1992.

Head sculpture, 1989

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