I am happy to report that both of my entries to the 62nd Annual Glendale Arts Council Juried Art Show were juried in. Since the first time I successfully entered this show was either 1974 or 1975, I can now say proudly that I have been a part of this prestigious event for more than 50 years. Being a loyal son of my home town of Glendale, Arizona, that means a lot to me.
for the birds
nana rests on the rest of the block of clay she rode in on.
grandpa is on the potter’s wheel, giving me the stink-eye.
the two of them took about an hour and a half to make.
“i didn’t ask to be hatched,” grandpa seems to be saying, but his daughter is less harsh
and pleads with me wordlessly to give her at least nine eggs to nurture.
they are unfinished, and i will spend more time than i usually do to spruce them up.
i suspect grandpa wants to be admired.
his daughter wants chicks.
i will see what i can do.
somehow Dorothy/became Aunt Dodo. i tell/you, it was aukward.
a hummingbird worked/as a dental hygienist/known as Numbing Bird.
blue-footed boobies/in throes of erotic love/act like the Rockettes.
the hood of my car/was sarcastically bombed/with two Mockingturds.
when the Pigeon/indignantly walked by it/flipped me a Human.
.
Fun fact: My mother really had an Aunt Dodo. I do not know if her real name was Dorothy.
i woke near midnight
there seemed to be murmurs coming from the front room/which since i live alone and have no radio/was creepy and scary
i swung the door to the front room open/to silence/to no murmurs/to just whispery traffic noise/and the high-pitched soundthread/of mild tinnitis
i closed the connecting door and went back/to bed/and soon dozed/but in minutes woke/to murmuring
marched to the door but stopped/listened/couldn’t hear much/but it was more than traffic noise
carefully silently opened the door
the sound stopped
closed the door but not completely/and at the edge of audibility/there seemed to be more murmuring
got an idea got my phone/opened the sound recorder app/set it to record/left the phone in the front room near the birds/went to bed
drowsed/dozed/sank into/the velvet starscape/of slumb THEN A CAR ALARM WENT OFF RIGHT BY THE BEDROOM DOOR BWEEP BWEEP BWEEP BWEEP EE-AH EE-AH EE-AH EE-AH KEEZO KEEZO KEE–
then abruptly ended
i went back into the front room/got my phone and pressed stop/and the display said 3:14 and i pushed the play arrowhead
and there WAS a sound as if of distant voices/but i could not parse individual words/except perhaps near the end
hard to tell but it sounded like a hoarse old crow diffused in the fog of distance
“he needs to make more of us”
followed by an indistinct murmur of bird-assent AND THEN THE CAR ALARM WENT OFF BOTH ON THE RECORDING AND OUTSIDE THE WINDOW BWEEP BWEE*
i stopped the playback/at the exact instant the second car alarm stopped
you win, birds
I will make more of you
the brave gunmetal-glazed bird // this bird began as an intangible idea of defiance / and then whirled around as clay on a potter’s wheel /her vase shape changed with the slice of a needle tool and the folding-in of her body / with sculpted neck and vestigial wings and tail feathers added / and her head formed of pressure of clay against thumb / the blunt end of the needle tool making eyepits / her ungainly beak a folded rhombus of clay slip&scored to her head / and her head slip&scored to her neck / and tilted back so she could give her wild eyes / to heaven
Here is my latest sculpted bird. I make them because they tell me to. They also tell me that they’ll start getting really good if I stick with it a few hundred more or so.
These birds and this vase just emerged from the PIP Coffee & Clay glaze kiln. I am making more birds today.
Here are two of my recent bird sculptures. One is glazed, one unglazed, and I may leave the unglazed one as is because it is nicely ghostlike in contrast to its mate. If my diabolical plans come to fruition, they will be worth at least $1000 US each in less than two years. But I’d be glad to sell the both of them TODAY ONLY for a grand total of $100.00 plus shipping (free delivery in the Phoenix, AZ area, though). Any interested party may either leave a comment on this post or e-mail me at onewithclay@hotmail.com. Deadline is midnight Mountain Standard Time today, May 29, 2023. Support the Arts, Friends!!
Last Saturday I put my hands on clay for the first time in forever. And I resumed my Weird Bird series with this “Scorpion Bird,” so named due to the resemblance of the beak to a scorpion’s tail and stinger. I return to PIP Coffee Plus Clay this Wednesday to put final touches on it, and then it will go in the oven. Here’s hoping 2023 will be the year of becoming fully One With Clay again!
This sketch is based on a photo of a bird who was bound by a length of cable and perched on display at a nature fair conducted by the City of Avondale, Arizona. The photo was taken by my friend Patty after my camera randomly quit on me. Patty had me hold the leash of her dog Sparky while she took the shot I’d failed to get.
The bird seemed placid and resigned. Between the artistic/dramatic liberties I took in converting a photo to a sketch, and my limitations as a nature artist, this sketch is more “inspired by” than “based on.” “The next one will be better,” I told myself, as always, as I signed and dated the sketch.
One with Clay, Image and Text 