Pamela Sunday and Gabrielle Baecile

Pamela Sunday 
There is not a great deal of information available on this artist or her organic based work however Pamela Sunday is a ceramic artist who specializes in creating unique and abstract forms inspired by nature and science. Her work resembles cells and microbes on a molecular level focusing on the unique patterns, shapes and textures that they appear to produce. her work is reasonably large for a ceramic piece and is highly detailed, the finish of her work is either metallic or neutral colours.  Many of her ceramics look like very similar to coral or sea urchins and if they were placed in an marine environment and coloured accordingly it would be difficult to distinguish them from the real organisms that live there.


Gabrielle Baecile 
Even more marine and coral like is the work of French ceramic artist Gabrielle Baecile who creates brightly coloured organic and realistic sculptures out of clay. Her work is of a medium to large scale and is all hollow as it is composed of pinched forms. Her work is very textured and surface detail plays a key part. She has created a contrast in her work of areas of indentation next to areas that protrude from the surface. It is clearly visible that her work is made up of several different segments, this further links to its organic route as it resembles an insect in some ways as both are segmented.



Although both artists work is organic based they differ a lot. It is clear that the work of Baecile is definitely more marine based than that of Sunday by the way it so closely represents coral and similar organisms. A key difference is the colouration of the finished pieces, there is more variation in that of Baecile and the colours seem more natural.
Sundays work appears to be based around a singular closed form where as Baeciles is made of a number of different size and shaped forms.

This is my pinched form before firing, i tried to combine elements of a tree, rock, skull, tentacles and insect. I found it difficult shaping the clay into what i had pictured, this is a skill that just comes with practice however. Like Sunday and Baecile i used pinched forms to create my piece. If i had chance to redo my piece i think i would have made it more abstract.

moulds

These moulds were made originally from clay, a clay ring was made around the form and old lino flooring was used to make a wall to contain the plaster of Paris that was poured on top of the mould. Once the plaster had dried we could remove the wall and excess clay ring. 
The clay form was removed from the plaster and liquid slip was poured in and left to dry, the plaster absorbed the water leaving a thin clay shell inside the mould.
We left the moulds for about a week and removed the new clay form. When they come out of the mould they are very fragile and whilst trying to decorate my form it broke in a number of places and crumbled in my hands, this is why i chose to work with this and give it a distressed and decaying look.
I liked the colouration given when the form came out of the mold so i painted areas with the red slip before it was fired. After firing the results weren't as i had expected so i painted a layer of copper carbonate over the top to add to the colour and make it look more weathered and distressed.


The following safety rules apply when using clay and plaster of Paris:
Always clear up all spillages of slip and worktops where clay has been used to remove clay dust particles.
Wash hands after work to remove dust.
Always work in a well ventilated room.
Do not get plaster on skin, in eyes or on clothing due to extreme heating when setting.
Do not enclose any part of the body in plaster for above reasons.
Plaster also creates dust which is harmful when breathed in.



 Pablo Picasso:
http://www.pablopicasso.org/
Pablo Picasso was a Spanish painter, ceramicist and sculptor. His ceramic work came in the form of unique vases, pots, bowls and plates. Although more well known for his paintings, ceramics did make up a large part of his career.