After the Fall 3 Sculpture

Prone blue and white porcelain feathered figure on black volcanic stoneware base. This figure is one of a series of sculptures referencing Milton’s Paradise Lost. The fallen angel lies prostrate on an altar-like base - almost suggesting an offering. The wings are constructed from individual porcelain feathers which are printed from real crows’ feathers soaked in cobalt oxide, pressed into the porcelain and then peeled off. This leaves behind an authentic trace of a real feather which is then cut out and assembled on the wing. It is a lengthy and painstaking process. There are gold traces referencing the previous state of grace dissipating and dripping from the wings and torso.
The subject of falling and The Fallen has always been an strong interest of mine particularly as I am acrophobic. These fallen beings became part of my way of dealing with the horrific images of 9/11.
Most ceramicists will agree that working with porcelain is both a joy and a nightmare. It is very unforgiving and has "memory" in that it will return to previous forms in the kiln you had hoped to have changed - it rarely remembers the good things.
When working in such fine detail in porcelain, I tend to make the figure on the shelf on which it will be fired in the kiln. This eliminates the need to move it around - a perilous endeavour when it is dry but not fired.
Unusually, the oxide is applied to the wet porcelain (it’s pink in its raw form) - usually oxides are applied post-bisque firing and then are re-fired. In order to preserve the original and unique feather pattern as a trace, the oxide has to be applied in this way.