Create an ideabook for your next remodeling project!
Browse more than 1,000,000 photos from top designers and save your favorites
Interview: Ceramic Art Goes Vertical
Nature Inspires the Amazing Wall Installations of Katherine Dube
Houzz Contributor. Hi There! I currently live in a 1920s cottage in Atlanta that I'll describe as "collected."
I got into design via Landscape Architecture, which I studied at the University of Virginia. I've been writing about design online for quite a few years over at Hatch: The Design Public Blog.
Houzz Contributor. Hi There! I currently live in a 1920s cottage in Atlanta... More »
In the hands of California ceramic artist Katherine Dube, clay seems to grow, following natural and imagined patterns up walls, around windows, and onto the ceiling. Dube came to ceramics after an advanced education in biology, biochemistry and chemistry as well as a career in biotechnology, and her background in science inspires her work in many ways. Here are several of her home installations, as well as a fascinating look at the process that goes into transforming a lump of clay into art.
| This installation is titled "Growth." Dube considers her work to be "a wonderful opportunity to present ceramics in various architectural spaces, engaging with new audiences who have perhaps not considered clay before."
|
| Here is "Growth" again, ready for its close up. The mix of science and ceramic design "enhances my appreciation of the world around me," Dube says. |
| Note how this piece knows no bounds, extending up the wall, around a window corner, and on to hanging upside down from the ceiling. |
"I enjoy the process of discovery," Dube says, "starting with vessels and familiar forms of nature taken to their less logical conclusions."
This piece is called "Gamma Swirl."
This piece is called "Gamma Swirl."
"Each wall installation includes individually handmade ceramic pieces installed directly onto a current architectural environment," Dube says. "Thousands of pieces are individually hand crafted and glazed for each wall installation; no molds or stamps are used in the process."
In a piece called "Bloom," each tile consists of thousands of single strands of extruded clay attached to the installation by hand. "Each tile 'bloom' is unique; having a natural movement and motion to each tile," Dube says.
Now we're going to do something a little different; Katherine is going to show us the steps that go into creating a site-specific architectural work like this one, titled "Waves."
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
The humble beginning: A few blocks of clay.
| Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| "Here is the clay ready to be rolled, sandwiched in between canvas sheets. I use the slab roller’s large-handled wheel to help feed through the clay. Dials on the side allow me to adjust the thickness. I feed the clay though numerous passes, slowly allowing for the clay to adjust to stretching and thinning." |
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
The next step was to cut the sheets of clay into smaller ribbons, then alter them into wave patterns. The clay is dried slowly then loaded into the kiln for a bisque firing. These are the wave ribbons after the bisque firing.
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
After the bisque firing, waves are stacked on kiln shelving and cooled after the firing. Then each wave is cleaned, dried, and glazed with a non-toxic glaze. In this image they are laid out and organized, ready to be glazed. Multiple glaze coats are brushed on each wave, giving the glaze a uniformity.
| Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| After the glaze is dry, the waves are stacked again on kiln shelves for a glaze firing. Afterward, the kiln door is opened to cool the pieces. |
| Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| Here are the cooled, glazed pieces ready for installation.
"The majority of my art is very light; therefore I have many ways to support each piece," Dube says. "For some light pieces, I can make a hole in the ceramics which a nail will be able to hook through. I also use wires, loops, fitting, hooks, and also attach pieces on panels to hang. If the piece happens to have some weight, I need to consider how the weight will be effectively distributed on the wall. " |
Here is the result! At first glance the next few images all look pretty similar, but what I enjoy is studying each in contrast to the others; how experiencing the piece very close up...
...differs from the experience at various distances.
Also, I like to look at it from two different directions...
...and see how the length of the shadows cast by the waves on the wall change with the lighting, whether it be because of the time of day or artificial light.
Thank you, Katherine, for pulling back the curtain and showing us how a block of clay can be transformed into something so beautiful.
Next: Redefining Spaces With Modular Felt Art
Material Choices: Concrete Block Style
Innovative Details: Designing With Light
Thank you, Katherine, for pulling back the curtain and showing us how a block of clay can be transformed into something so beautiful.
Next: Redefining Spaces With Modular Felt Art
Material Choices: Concrete Block Style
Innovative Details: Designing With Light
Comments
J Willi Thanks once again Becky, such creativity...and patience!
2 years ago · Like
Becky Harris Glad you enjoyed it! I certainly loved learning about how much goes into each one of these gorgeous installations, and how the process of creating it effects the final work.
2 years ago · Like
Anne Gatchell These are so beautiful! Also very inspiring to see a science person move to art!
2 years ago · Like
jesully I love this work. Some of it has that feeling of aliens growing on your wall, but how creative. Fabulous.
2 years ago · Like
najwan gorgeous i like the idea .... so inspiring!!!!
2 years ago · Like
econoclass stunning....but are they equally stunning in cost? What would one of these wall installations (as pictured) cost?
2 years ago · Like
shylann awsomeeeeeeeeeeee
2 years ago · Like
amandamoore Wow! It takes talent to make something appear to be living like these do!
2 years ago · Like
tamarawieske Hmmm. Sometimes here in NE Brazil, I see "growth" on my walls here, but it's not so pretty...
2 years ago · Like
Ideabook updated on May 6, 2011.
What are you working on?
News From Our Partners
Latest Ideabooks
People found the photos in this ideabook after searching for:
View over a million photos:
