Cup Plant Leaf; Solo Exhibit Opening

Gonna keep it short and sweet today - have to get back down to Detroit (I'm in Dewitt, north of Lansing, right now) to do last minute preparations for the opening of my solo exhibit at Galeria Mariposa in Grosse Pointe Woods this evening.  But, I wanted to share another photo of the pieces my friend Don shot for me on Sunday.

Probably my favorite is a Cup Plant (Silphium perfoliatum) leaf I formed into a bowl shape.  Because, like the sunflower leaves, the main vein on the leaf is very thick, I used a coil to support the form.  I also really "crinkled up" the leaf to give a lot of sense of movement.  This was one of those pieces that made me grin from ear to ear when I pulled it out of the kiln.  So much so that I went right back out to my Cup Plant (given to me as a gift by my good friend, Barb Hayes, Executive Director of the Detroit Garden Center) and, despite the lateness of the season, found two more decent leaves and made them into complementary pieces.

In making "sets" of these leaf pieces, I'm used a couple techniques to unify them. In trios of small Rudbeckia and small Sunflower leaves, I've used different colored, yet related, stains but the same glaze to tie them together.  (Each can definitely stand alone but they look so much better together.)  I took a different tack with the Cup Plant pieces, using the same stain but different, yet harmonious, glazes, so it was clear each could definitely stand as an independent piece but could work together as a larger composition.

I was so happy with how these turned out, that I went back out in my garden and harvested three Prairie Dock (Silphium terebinthinaceum) leaves.  Found a pretty large one (for my small plant; keep in mind, these guys can get three feet long - so future big leaves for more big pieces, right?), made a great bowl, using a coil on the back and then continuing the coil sinuously down the axis of the leaf to its tip, which made for an interesting variation in how it sat on a surface.  I liked that so much that I decided to see if I could find two more smaller Prairie Dock leaves - which I really couldn't, so I took the two smallest I could find and made two more pieces.  All of which will bisque fire today....

Hope to see you at the opening - or sometime during the show, November 4, 2011 - January 4, 2012 - Galeria Mariposa, 20445 Mack Avenue, Grosse Pointe Woods, MI, (313) 407-0953.  Opening reception (featuring delicious artisan baked goods by my friend Jennifer Flynn of Urban Attic and live music by up-and-coming musician/songwriter and painter Charlie Palazzola) November 4, 2011, 6-9pm.  New work will be coming in through out the first month (or until I drop from exhaustion!)