Still raining

The weather has been rainy in Aizpute but I got some pictures now and things are moving along.
They still have to wait for better weather to fill up the seams between the tiles.

Here is a picture taken from Aizpute´s art school window, you can see the surrounding environment.

Thanks to Signe Pucena for the photos!

First panel up

Finally on Sunday evening the last glazing firing was set going and the first and smallest panel is up! Unfortunately it has been just raining ever since so we shall see when all of the work is done.

I unloaded the last firing on Tuesday morning and got back to home on Wednesday.
It was an intense working period towards the end so I haven´t been posting much to the blog.
Earlier I wrote that I was missing some kiln shelves. Luckily a SERDE contact, someone from Riga was kind to borrow some so that the kiln loading became much more efficient and I was able to fire everything in time.


Here the tiles of the last panel lay on the barn floor waiting. Unfortunately I didn´t get to see all the panels up on the wall but that just means I have to come back soon. I will post the pictures of the finished work soon as I get them.

The fourth and largest panel turned upside down so I can mark the tiles for the workmen.

The third panel almost done.

There was a small opening ceremony on Saturday as a part of the ĀBOĻOŠANA festivities.

It has been quite a project. I knew that when I started but I was also optimistic that it could be done. And done it got! Small set backs with the firing didn´t slow the process too much down. This is the biggest piece what I have done so far.

It would have not been possible without the support of Arts Promotion center Finland, the wonderful people of SERDE, without the help Aizputes town, my two sponsors and of course my amazing assistants Ance and Tija Ausmane. Thank you! This residency center is something special and I can really recommend experience here as a resident artist.

...

31.8.  46

1.9.   62

3.9. last bisque

4.9.   76

6.9.   81

A diagram will follow later on.

Tighten up

Light colors, glossy surfaces. In some parts you can see the color of the clay body. 

Yesterday there was finally results from the first glaze firing, another was set going. The colors are good, just what I was looking for. It will take time to get used to this glossy surface and how will it affect on the forms. I saw the town architect of Aizpute today and she liked them as well.
Tomorrow the last bisque will be fired and from that on it will be just glazing.

It is two weeks left of the residency and so far 803 tiles have been made with 15 different types,
108 of them are now glazed. There are four panels to cover, all together 16 meters. The height of the panels varies from 70 cm to 150 cm. Here is a sketch from an early stage so you can see the idea. Well at least those parts that are not made with pencil.

Today I gathered all the fired ones together, just to balance the amounts between the panels.
I haven´t counted how many of which kind have been done. In the end I don´t think that´s really  important. Now I will start to put them together as panels to their formation. There is still one bisque (about 150 tiles) not included, but the total 803 has around 40-50 tiles of extra, and I still don´t know how they glazing will go so it´s good to keep things flexible. The final panel is possible to make when everything is fired and all the pieces are there to be played around.

There is a problem with firing; not enough kiln shelves. I am doing what I can with the material available here but it is going to get tight will I make it in time. There is only one company in Latvia who deliver ceramic supplies and apparently they don´t keep much stock and ordering abroad takes time what I don´t have. I have managed to put 62 glazed ones in a firing. We´ll see the later on the week if it´s possible to loan some shelves from somewhere.