Jeremiah Johnson. Transform Official clip.

Victoria and Albert Museum Ceramics collection

Object Type
One of the earliest experiments in European ceramic sculpture, this object was commissioned by the father of the dead child in order to capture her likeness and perpetuate her memory. It was a personal and private sculpture, reflecting the grief of the little girl's family, and perhaps not intended for open display in the house.
People
Lydia Dwight was six years old when she died on 3 March 1674 (1673 by the Old Calendar). The fact that the next daughter was also christened Lydia does not suggest lack of grief on the part of the parents, but was usual practice in an age noted for its high infant mortality.
Materials & Making
John Dwight's first patent for salt-glazed stoneware, of 1672, did not list statues and figures among the types of product to be protected. They were, however, included in his second patent of 1684, when he had apparently stopped making them. Almost all his figures, like these two examples, were actually made in the 1670s. He is known to have shown a bust of Dr Willis and a figure to members of the Royal Society in 1674 and was clearly attempting to adapt his tough new material to the delicate art of modelling in clay, terracotta or wax at exactly the time his daughter Lydia died. The identity of the four different modellers involved in his experiments, assumed to be from Italy or the Low Countries, still remain a mystery. Dwight's failure to make commercial use of his stoneware figures has denied him the role of founder of the later tradition of English pottery and porcelain figures. But his attempts to link the stoneware material to art does have parallels with Josiah Wedgwood and Sir Henry Doulton in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Great collection of contemporary and historical ceramics here is the link to this awesome site!
http://www.vam.ac.uk/page/c/ceramics/

Public Image Ltd.- Albatross

The Saints - Stranded

Uyghur Dutar Song by Abdurehim Heyit

WIRE -PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

Cardboard sculptures by Ann Weber

 

Saw these the other day and I think they are so cool. She was working in ceramics for years then turned around and started using cardboard because of its lightweight quality. She states that cardboard is less cumbersome and the process of creating a finished piece is not as complicated as clay.

http://annwebersculpture.com/html/sculpture.html

Kind of reminds me of some of  Isamu Noguchi early sculptures.

http://www.noguchi.org/noguchi

Justin Towne Earle - "Halfway To Jackson" Live At Paste

http://youtu.be/8sgCwMoN580

Sean Collins Memorial

I went down to my local the Huntington Beach Pier to take part in the memorial service and paddle out for Sean Collins. I saw a lot of local surfers that I know from surfing here for 34 years coming down to the shore to honor Sean. The surf had been large for the past 2 days and the paddle out would have been a different scenario if they held this memorial when it was originally scheduled. Thankfully. with the help of seans brainchild, Surfline, they were able to forecast the swell and planned the event accordingly allowing more people to take part in the paddle out.

 

Aaron Pai speaking to the crowd. There were a number of wonderful speeches and reminiscing by people close to Sean Collins.

 

The procession out on the the south side of the pier.

Peter Townend  one of many locals on his way out to honor sean.

The circle was HUGE with a lot of surfers taking part in honoring one of their own.  The participants roaring and the banging of their hands on their boards was loud enough to hear from far away.  Definitely a wonderful moment.

RIP sean.

Friday with some swell

There is some new swell on the coast so I went to check a few places this morning with a friend and found some very crowded lineups!

there was one place however that had only 2 guys out and was pretty darn good.

if you could get past the layers of lines

scoring some when you can weave between the lines..