During my session as a resident at Watershed, I was fortunate enough to spend my two weeks in the summer resident’s studio working alongside Indiana Artist Christine Golden.  Currently a graduate student at Indiana University, Christine is known for creating eerily, life sized figurative ceramic sculpture.  Her work often provokes the viewer to consider the roles of women in our society, and she frequently uses witty, almost sarcastic imagery to get her point across.

While at Watershed, Christine spent her two weeks working on a life sized, female torso, which she sculpted from our local Watershed earthenware clay.  She began by working on the wheel to throwing a large bottom-less cylinder as the base of the torso, then formed a few more cylinders for use as arms and other components of her piece.  Christine then started joining these pieces, making additions, handbuilding, and finally sculpting the details and features of her figure.

Christine at work on her figure.

Two weeks (including drying and firing time) is a very small amount of time to spend on a piece of this size and magnitude.  But Christine was able to complete, and bisque fire her figure within the two week period.  Then, with some help from a fellow resident, Lesley Baker (also an Indiana artist and professor of art at Herron College of Art) she transported the piece home for finishing.  In her own studio, Christine completed the surface of the piece using glaze and oil paint.  The strangely life-like effect of the eyes was achieved through the use of glass manikin eyes.  In a place where, due the short time allowed, many artists are not able to see a project through from start to finish, it was exciting for me to witness the completion of a large figural sculpture made from Watershed clay.

Christine transporting her piece to the kiln.

Christine’s finished piece.