The Murder: Black Birds in Progress

I am trying to make as many of these birds as I  can before the CCACA ceramics conference at the end of April. Last year's conference was amazing to visit. I was attending Ventura College at the time and we did not participate in the Student Show. Now I am attending CSU Channel Islands and this will be CI's first time showing in the Student Show. This project is an extension of  the Black Birds project I did last year. Here are some progress shots:

 

Master Painting

This semester, I am taking my first oil painting class. I used to think I would hate the medium, but that is just because I was never taught the proper way to use it. What a process! This was the class' first project. We had to copy a renaissance painting. Mine is a copy of a portion of The Annunciation by Gerard David.

Below is the original along with some process shots. 

Altered Bowls

A while ago, I posted a how-to guide for these bowls. They are whimsical and they get a lot of compliments. As my how-to guide shows, they are also not that difficult to make! These bowls all use the same blue-rutile glaze. Right now, I am trying to make baking dishes using the same technique.

Cups and Bowls

These are just regular bowls and cups that I made last semester, but I wanted to document the glaze combinations and shapes.

Demonstration Project

Our latest project for ceramics was a Demo-Project. We had to come up with a presentation to explain to upper-division and lower-division students a technique that they might not already know. I taught the class how to alter the surface of a vessel to make it look "upholstered" with buttons. Feel free to use this demo, but let me know what you think about it in the comments!

For whatever reason, Blogger won't let me upload PDF files, so I'm stuck showing you screenshots of the PowerPoint Presentation. Check out the rest of the pictures after the jump!

New Stuff

So this is my first semester at CSU-Channel Islands, and I gotta say, I am loving it! So far we have done textiles and a demonstration project. I haven't been so good about posting regularly, sorry. To make up for it are some pictures from the past few months.

 These are some textile pieces. I basically put as many different glaze combinations on there that I could possibly keep track of.

 This is the beginnings of my demonstration project. The objective was to teach both the upper division and lower division students something clay related that could help them with either surface decoration or construction. I decided to teach everyone how to alter the form make this billowed/upholstered-look. It doesn't have to be specifically for throwing, but that is what I demonstrated with.

 

Here are some bisque (first) fired pieces, ready for glaze. Some of these are the fruits of my demo-project labors.

Santa Paula Art Museum Next Generation Student Show

First Museum show was tonight! The Santa Paula Art Museum was packed! What a fantastic turnout. Here is a picture from the show and the invitation. The reception was tonight, but show is until October 21st so there is still plenty of time to see all of the great student work!

 

 (Black Birds)

 

I've been published!

My piece, Black Birds, that was in the student show, was also included in the student magazine, VC Voices 2012. How exciting!

New Website!

Hi Everyone,
Just wanted to let you know that I have a new website! Here is the link:

http://crahimzadeh.wix.com/artist#!home/mainPage

Thanks!

Black Birds

Very pleased with how these turned out! They were entered into Ventura College's Student Show and won for non-functional ceramics! I also won an award from Ventura County Friends of the Arts! Very exciting night.

Here are some detail shots to get a good look at those little guys.

 

Crow Wall Pieces

These were fun to make. Creating all of the different shapes turned this into structural, step-by-step project. These are unfired, with charcoal on raw clay. The next post will have the birds fired and glazed.

Ceramic, (sizes vary) 5"x8"x5"

Crow Mask

Ceramic wall piece/mask

Ceramic, 6"x13"x6"

More Life Drawing

This is from a while ago, but I just can't seem to finish it.

I was kinda goofing off with colored pencils and now I'm stuck.

Colored pencil, Graphite 12"x 20"

Life Drawing

Here are some of the drawings that came of last semester's life drawing class. The first two are graphite, the last one is charcoal.

This was a 2 day study for the final. 

Relief Print: Accident

This was made for our final print exchange in my printmaking class. I had to make enough prints for everyone in the class (plus some for my self). The theme was "forbidden." I feel like there is a lot forbidden about this image; public nudity as one example. It is also a little boy crossing the street with a blindfold; nakedness is just one factor in his vulnerability.

I chose to make a reductive print, which means that after each layer, I could never go back. It is suggested to start out making twice the amount that you want to end up with. I started out with  60 prints. My series ended up being out of 24. It was a total nightmare to print (I was experimenting with oil based ink) and by the end, I hated it mainly because it looked nothing like I had planned. Since then, it has grown on me a lot and is yet another example of a "happy accident."
Relief Print. Oil based ink. 7" x 10"

Light Drawing

I drew this as an assignment for a class. The  assignment was to capture light in a drawing. On the day of the critique, everyone else had drawings of objects dripping in sunshine with very little graphite used. Mine, as you can see, was of a dark room and used a lot of graphite. It was a nightmare trying to wash all of it off of my hands, face and clothes. I realized quickly that my drawing found light through shadow, instead of capturing literal light.

This was put in the Spring 2010 student art show. Graphite. 23" x 18"

Mugs

Hi, Everyone!
Long time, no post... I know. Sorry! Here are some mugs that I threw on the wheel.

I use them every day! The one below is decorated with hand prints (my hand prints) on both sides. I really like the way it turned out. 

The mug below turned out nicely as well. The handle fits nicely on my thumb, so I don't have to work so hard to keep the cup from sliding and spilling tea everywhere.

Stoneware.

Tall Rectangular Vase

Soft slab construction with lots of texture.

Stoneware. 14" x 6" x 3"

Cameo Reductive Print

This was my first (complicated) reductive print. To make a reductive print, I had the whole image on one piece of linoleum and then I printed the first color that had the most area. Then I cut a little more, printed with a new color, and therefore created a new layer. I did this until the image was complete. Because there is a lot of detail in this one, and because there are so many layers, keeping the images registered was very difficult. Also, because there were so many layers, the ink was getting too thick and weird. Anyways, it turned out pretty good, considering that it was my first complicated reductive print.

Reductive, linoleum relief print. Oil and water based ink. 7" x 5"

Orange Bowl

There is not much to say about this bowl, except for that the glaze details definitely make it. The glaze on this bowl is very interesting and I am very happy with how it turned out. The orange even turns to a hot pink in some spots.

Stoneware. 6"x 4"