Below are pictures from the making of the 5th piece from the series created for my solo undergrad show.
Sea Cows! The inspiration for this piece.
The original sketch for this piece.
In this picture, the base has just been finished being shaped from a solid lump of clay and is set out to air-dry for a little while.
This is the first piece in this series that I actually carved into with some elements of design...
The triangle shapes looked really good in the drawing, but as I was carving them I became unsure as to how they fit into the overall piece. I'm still not sure how they fit, but I still like them anyway.
The bowl for this piece in mid-trim on the wheel.
The bowl, finished with its trimming.
Here's my attempt at sculpting a manatee face. As I've said elsewhere, it is really hard to accurately sculpt an animal while never having seen it in real life.
Manatee faces in the process of being attached to the bowl
At this point, the bowl and base have already gone through two firings and are now waiting to have the pattern put on. Other pieces on the table include the sloth and lemur hands in the process of being glazed.
In this picture, I am finally gluing all of the components together. It took four months to get to that point.
The little manatees had to be supported by tape hammocks while the glue set up.
And last but not least, here's a shot of the inside of the manatee bowl.