Recent Paintings

    The following images are from a new painting series I started recently.
     I would say that I've always loved painting but honestly there was a long period of time during which I couldn't bring myself to paint. Part of this block was due to how I had come to view the process. After my early undergrad experience as a painting major I had become overwhelmed by the dreaded and sacred white canvas, the purity of the materials, and the deliberate nature in which I was trained to work.
     At the suggestion of a friend and colleague, I abandoned all respect for the process and materials. I forgot about fine stretched canvas and gesso, earth-toned under-paintings, and thick luxurious oils, and picked up some paper, old craft store acrylics, cheap watercolors, and disposable brushes. I set to work on small pieces that could be literally taped to a board, actually an old oil painting on panel to ensure complete sacrilege.In an effort to integrate my love of drawing I also added ink pens and colored pencil. I am pleased with the results so far. I'm able to complete most images in a couple of hours or less. It has been very liberating to take ownership of a means of expression I had previously dreaded.
     I have attempted to arrange these images chronologically, earliest to latest. The series includes all but three works that have found other homes. Color accuracy is a slight issue due to lack of controlled lighting but these are near representations. All works are smaller than 8x10". I'm still working out titles for these.

 

New Painting Series

     Pictured below is the first in a new painting series I started yesterday. Painting number two is complete and will be featured soon. These are acrylic and ink on paper and merge my drawing style with my painting style.

Function Follows Form (cont'd)

Here is the finished version of the form featured in an earlier post regarding sculptural utility.

This piece is the result of a 69 hour firing of the small anagama kiln built by Brian Harper at NAU in Flagstaff, AZ. The sharply delineated sides of this bottle form create distinct canvases for the kiln to paint with ash glaze. No slips or glazes were applied.

Green?

     In an effort to simplify form and focus on preserving the sharpness of my marks in clay I began making vase forms. I recently glazed and fired a few of my less successful forms in the soda kiln. They were deemed less successful because they flare out at the bottom and I'm currently interested in more obviously rectilinear forms. The large vase pictured here was glazed with what comes out of the wood kiln as a white crawling, peeling shino, however, it morphed into a deep green, almost oribe glaze in the soda. I generally dislike shiny pots but the unexpected results are intriguing.

Function Follows Form

     I have made several square cups, bowls, and vase forms after the wood fired masu, the subtle square piece that emerged from last month's wood firings, but this bottle form is especially interesting to me right now. It feels like a unified form in surface, shape, volume, and finished details such as lip/rim and foot. I'm making them in various sizes. The one pictured is about six inches tall. It's striking to me that I have had to approach the vessel via sculpture. Working solid allowed me to detach my mind from utility and tradition. I now address clay from the outside, rather than creating a hollow space and trying to "decorate" it afterward, and function is allowed to follow form.

Tecolote, a site specific, place based art installation

     The following is documentation of an installation I did for a class on site specific, place based art installation. The subject of the course was cultural and ecological genocide in Arizona. I chose to address the issues surrounding the border between Arizona and Mexico. For a review of the installation check out Dave Laplander's blog. Special thanks to my classmates, my professor Shawn Skabelund, NAU Cline Library, and Dr. Tad Theimer and the NAU Biology Department's specimen library.

Tecolote

by Eugene Brosseau, BFA

     Current political and social actions and activism surrounding the Arizona and Mexico border impact a broad spectrum of human and animal relations and ecosystems. In an effort to address real and far reaching issues surrounding our borderlands, sweeping changes have been made to Arizona and U.S. policy and practice without sufficient regard for, or protection of, the rights of the inhabitants of our borderlands. This site specific art installation is intended to provoke questions within the viewer about our place in history, the commonality of human experience, and our role in the ecology of the borderlands.

Tecolote

 

On evenings dark

a lonesome sound

betrays the heart

from amidst trees

on the banks of arroyos

calls to would be companions

eyes alive

in the murk and midnight

watch the stillness

hearing and hailing 

all homesick hunters

     In summary, the owls, being nocturnal, represent the human migrants who move across the border at night. They also represent the universality of human experience on either side of the border.The topography of Arizona shows the southern border with Mexico. The absence of topography of Mexico illustrates the out-of-sight-out-of-mind state of affairs concerning the inhabitants south of the border and their status as the "other" or the "them" in the discourse. I deliberately chose topography and scientific specimens to associate the piece with the library environment. It was my intent to create a quiet artwork that united itself to its surroundings and invited the viewer's curiosity.

Monoprinting

Inspired by visiting artist, Priscilla Mouritzen, I had taken up my carving tool and attempted to create some linoleum block prints. The process was not yielding any favorable results. I had the thought, while still in bed this morning, to try mono-printing. The results are very promising and I plan to continue the process. Pictured below is a print I made this morning using a motif I had explored in pencil and in oils last summer.

"Mute", a mono-print with black ink on hand crafted paper.

We unloaded the wood kiln this morning. Overall the firing was successful. The only exception being the failure of two shelves in the back stack which triggered a massive collapse of the upper shelves of that section into the fire-box during the firing. The back door of the fire-box had to be opened while the kiln was still being fired and pieces of broken shelves and pots had to be pulled out while red-hot so as not to block the primary air intakes. While the carnage was impressive the kiln gave up some real treasures, including a few pieces from the fire-box, covered in chunky ash, an effect usually achieved in a very different style of kiln. Here are some before-and-after pics along with a shot of a couple of artifacts of the destruction.

Jason, Priscilla, and unloaded wares

Installation of my BFA exhibition "Rowing Home"

The poem that accompanied the installation:

Rowing Home

Looking back

across memory

I see my former selves

contrived, forgotten, abandoned

though they erode slowly

they still stand

watching

I peer past and glimpse a truer self

one that was

and still lives

deep within

Selected pieces were soda fired after the exhibition ended:

Approximately 32"tall

Approximately 35' tall

Approximately 24" tall

The Barnard slip gives a black metallic to bronze finish when laid on thick and a rich brown when thinner or rubbed off. It also puckers a bit after firing when applied to bisque as opposed to a smoother finish when applied to green-ware. These pieces have inspired me to continue to develop other forms with similar qualities to these. I hope this coming semester is fruitful. I graduate in May and am in the process of applying to MFA programs.

BFA Exhibition

Opening Friday, December 10th, 5 o'clock pm
Northern Arizona University, Beasley Gallery
This exhibition is my senior thesis and consists of work from the last semester.
All are welcome to attend.

Special thanks to those whose support has made this show and preceding academic career a success.

New Painting Series

During the brief break between summer school sessions, I took some time to dust off the easel and do some painting. This is the first of a series titled "Compassion" (8"x10" oil on panel). I'll post editions as they're completed.

I unloaded the soda kiln today with much disappointment. I had hoped for rich browns, dripping, and flashing and instead got a lot of grey ware. This is the most successful piece and the largest at 24" +\-. The kiln has the last word but I'll be back for more. The reddish brown is from a Redart slip (earthenware clay) brushed on before firing. I'll have to dip some cups in that for the next firing.