4″ x 4″ x 3/8″ Loon, collagraph print on Cook Inlet glacial clay, multiglaze cone 6 oxidation.
Read up on the loon while designing the tile. Old time Inupiaqs would put a loon skull in a persons grave because it was thought to be a spirit guide. Found out the loon is one of the more ancient birds and is the only bird to still have some solid bones. The Alaska Geographic publication on prehistoric animals that once lived in Alaska shows an ancestor of the loon on the water living along side dinosaurs.
4″ x 4″ x 3/8″ Caribou, multiglaze, cone 6 oxidation, Cook Inlet glacier clay. Hand printed from a collagraph plate. Done in the x-ray style common to the coastal peoples of Alaska.
Sea mammals were the main food staple of my mother’s village of Point Hope, but caribou were important too. I like the old style parka were the caribou skin is worn so the fur is on the inside and the hide on the outside.
Ceramic shards have been escavated from Point Hope that show a ceramics tradition dating back about 5,000 years. The last Inupiaq to build ceramic pit fired pots died in the 1880’s and the tradition was lost. I couldn’t get into a native Alaskan arts sales event because the jurors told me my art wasn’t original to Alaska. The native heritage center had a talk with the jurors and after missing out for two years, they let me in. Crazy, I’m registered with the state as an Alaskan native artist, dig up and process my own local clay, and still run into people who say my art isn’t authentic. Oh well.
Raven, facing left, 4″ x 4″ x 0.4″, multiglazed, cone 6 oxidation, Cook Inlet glacier clay.
$35
Used a nice creme breaking red for the background. Ravens are one of Anchorage’s winter birds and are fun to watch. They hang around the taller buildings and play in the updrafts.
Leaf Impressions
Four separate leaf impressions, each 4″ x 4″ x 3/8″ on Cook Inlet glacier clay with crystalline glazes. Cone 6 oxidation. I pick the leaves from the local dog park in Anchorage where I walk our American bull dog. The leaves are set on a square matte board and a firm, but still pliable, slab of clay is laid on top. Both are run through my old fashion etching press. It’s amazing how much detail the clay retains of the leaf, even the veins show up.
$30 per 4″ tile.
