erin root

Exhibition

2009-05-18T15:43:00.000-07:00

Finally! I get to show all of this work! The exhibit is up until June 13th.

Things with Wings

2008-05-14T06:01:00.001-07:00

My last few weeks were beeswax obsessive. I have a deer project I am still working on, but this is one of the many small pieces dipped in beeswax. The drops on the wings get me pretty excited. BEESwax on a cicada, a buck made of BEESwax, what more could you ask for when it comes animals being sympathizers for each other?

A friend from the local bar brought me a hawk one Wednesday evening. I thought he was lying, until he and his kids walked me out to their pickup. I had one day to cast it, resulting in a not so perfect mold (seen below).

This is a porcelain wing from the mold.

As I hurriedly packed all my pieces, I couldn't not stop and take the image of many brittle baby birds snuggled in foam cut out for fruit.

Some of my favorite videos from Cub Creek

2008-04-30T08:42:00.000-07:00

This colt was born in the summer. As the year went on I got to see him grow. By the time I left Virginia I could not tell the difference between him and the older horses from far away.

Like the horses, I saw these cows every morning and every night. To me, it seemed that calfs grow slower than colts. Calfs are funny and awkward. Their adolescent stage so well relates to humans as adolescents.
If you look among the tree trunks you can see the cows standing in the shade. The humidity is able to be seen between the hills. I think the excruciating heat is audible and able to be felt at the end of this video.

There is a peacock farm across the road from Cub Creek. The year and a half I was there I never saw a peacock until the last few days....I saw this one every day. He liked to hang out with the guinea hens. Here he is flaunting his feathers to them. I'm not sure if this is pissed off or flirting.

2007-11-26T12:06:00.000-08:00

i love repetition. and contrasts. severities. hundreds, one, black, white. life.death. i have been casting snakes and deer legs, blindly. not knowing what the result will be, but loving the process too much to stop. then I went to post these images, for the sake of exposing the process. i think the 1st two are telling. they work well together. going with that will be my next step.

sometimes the simplest are my favorite. i was wrapping the dead baby bird in thread. orange, gray. and simultaneously wrapped a large sculpture in hoarse hair (thanks laurel), then wrapped the bird in one strand of the hoarse hair. to me this reads nurturing, maybe even mourning of one distinct species for another, contrasting most obviously in size.

2007-11-17T20:19:00.000-08:00

The deer is finished!
Because of the plexiglas, his shadows play on the wall, an effect I hadn't thought of as relevant until someone brought it to my attention. (I'm going to try and get a better image with the shadows).

My studio grows.

A story from my childhood, written on a chalkboard. A porcelain squirrel, relevant to the story.

Baby birds and snakes. I'm VERY happy with the shelf of many birds, not so sure about the cluster of birds in the corner, how the snake relates to them, and the dark gray behind them. Working the details out as this body of work progresses.

I seem to have forgotten how important showing the process of making the work is. I was reminded this past weekend.

2007-11-15T05:27:00.000-08:00

The porcelain deer you saw in earlier blogs was made with a plaster cast. I took a cast of the real deer. Because it was the summer, and animals rot more quickly after death, I was not able to get what I wished for: the entire deer. But I’m taking that as a blessing in disguise. His relief seems to be just as satisfying to me.

After bisquing (firing once) him, I covered the surface with graphite. This is the deer installed directly into the wall in my studio.(You can double-click on the photo to see it bigger and in more detail)

Realizing I was approaching the same installation issues as I always seem to, I decided to install the deer into Plexiglas, then install the plexi into the wall. I have a love affair with plexi so I’m happy with the results so far. You will see the finished product SOON!

2007-10-09T06:33:00.000-07:00

All drawings of life are done with a black background, all of death, are on a white background. These drawings are all of death, and though this dog is fairly decomposed and may be a gruesome subject, I hope for a certain amount of beauty and serenity to come through.

A detail of the dog.

This is the same deer that was depicted in porcelain. The composition is similar to all of the other drawings. He lays in the bottom, left corner of a large (30"x22") piece of white paper.

The bird, with a bit of graphite added.

Video of Tops Spinning

2007-10-04T18:44:00.001-07:00

I have been trying to upload this for months. The hands are studio-mates Dan and Drew. Their hands and their talking make the performance even more poetic for me.

there would be no beauty if there was no imperfection.

2007-08-17T15:18:00.000-07:00

My roommate found a Robin that had fallen out of it's nest before even growing feathers. She called me at the studio and asked if I wanted it. Drew found a baby snake in the driveway and left it on my table. On a regular basis I receive gifts of exotic-looking bugs and animals such as these. I think these are really thoughtful gifts.

I have casted the Robin and the snake. The plaster positives are nowhere close to perfect, and I prefer them that way.

2007-07-18T07:22:00.000-07:00

Death has taken on a whole new meaning out here. It has become less nostalgic, and more a part of the cycle of life. I was tempted to bury this deer, then realized the turkey vultures need to eat.

Casting a dead baby deer may seem unethical to some, to others-it immortalizes it. To me, I couldn't help but create a piece of porcelain that captures its elegant form.

A drawing of Roxy looking through a brightly lit doorway.

A hummingbird came in, attracted to the flickering fluorescent lights. He burned himself and died a while later. The colors on his neck were some I'd never seen on an animal, in person. They changed drastically, depending on your perspective.

After casting a deer leg, I began throwing the slab to flatten and reuse it...it began to look like an archeological dig.

A black snake sunning himself in the middle of the road. I thought the line he was creating was lovely.

Simon was our French resident. He came and left in a month. He was refreshingly goofy.

2 cows silhouettes looked like one long, many legged animal when I first came over the hill. Neither of these photos created the result I wanted, but the blurriness and bug guts on the windshield may be better.

Our second tomatoe from our garden!

2007-05-04T18:50:00.000-07:00

So much time gone by… lots of adjusting and working.
I had no idea how intense and exhausting a wood firing can be. We did 8-17 hour shifts each. A shift includes listening, watching the kiln so you know when it needs to be “fed”, (yes, like a child). Once it hits around 18-1900 degrees, this feeding happens every 5-10 minutes. Imagine that. 8 hours solid feeding 7 pieces of wood, 4 of pine, 3 of oak every 5 minutes, but the end you are one with a 2400 degree kiln. I opted for the fireman’s jacket. Being the only girl, I have no testosterone I have to prove of.

Out of the wood firing:
Tops-Again, wanting, making hundreds of spinning tops. Want a machine that will spin them within a large room-thinking like bowling pin dropping machines, or as dad suggested a spiral machine that spits them out, then they fall into a slight spiral within the floor, and then the come back around to the machine, so as to keep spinning. Love the constant spinning, however, want the sound of hundreds. The audio seems just as important to me as the visual. Wish to put a video on here for you to see them spinning. Anyone know who can fabricate a machine for me?

A salt-fired piece covered with a “skin”, then fired again in the wood kiln. I’m liking this effect and am doing more as you read.

When I was in Italy I bruised myself on a constant basis. Hammering my thumb, while chiseling stone seemed to be my favorite. I photographed these injuries. Here, burning myself seems to take priority to bruising. On heat guns, hot oil, no kilns yet. These 4 spots (2 a little hard to see) are from hot oil. The injury to the body and healing process are fascinating to me. I think photographing the healing process daily is next. Making a flipbook to watch the skin injury, then heal, scar, and heal more?

Body jewelry, in a way. It does not sit on you, as a bracelet or a ring, but is made directly from your own form. My fingers creating a negative space that is formed with porcelain. My teeth creating their own form. I have begun taking some of the boy’s forms, like Drew’s nice little cleft chin. Jewelry, because where the body does not touch the porcelain it is decorated with porcelain “spikes”? “dots”?-what is a good word for these small blobs with sexy little additions?

Have begun taking molds not only of wild animal body parts, but also human body parts. I’m amazed by the incredible detail (notice on the knee), and have figured out a way to keep these porcelain casts super thin.

Roxy has become one of my subjects. I cannot seem to get my camera to focus on these drawings successfully, but these give you some idea. The paper is not black, but rubbed with graphite, except for the halo of the dog. The found dead dog is a subject also. However, as of now, he will stay on white paper. The composition will stay the same, a small figure at the base of the page. But unlike the atmospheric, “hopeful” black, the lifeless dog will be on a somewhat glowing, lifeless page.

2007-03-27T06:59:00.000-07:00

A porcelain "skin" over a large gas tank that heats our studio.

NCECA (The national ceramics conference) was held in Louisville, Kentucky this year. I have to admit, I was a little disappointed in the lack of ceramic sculpture. However, I latched on to Chris Gustin's work immediately. His creases and dimples made me crave more.

Along with rebuilding the house, John is "rebuilding" the pond. This past week it was drained to remove the many feet of sludge that has built up over the years. He plans to make it swim-able and grow lily pads.

Since the draining, on our daily walks, Roxy's favorite activity is getting in the sludge, sinking down to her belly, and slopping through it until exhaustion. Her tail wags the entire time.

Then she rolls in the grass....cleaning herself?

Half of our studio sink has a raised drain, so clay won't fill the pipes. Because of this, a mixture of clays and lost tools sit in the sink. Once settled, it begins to look like "bacteria matt"- the kind found out west. This spiky organism looking thing, are bristles of a brush I lost about a month ago.

Pedro

2007-03-23T20:33:00.000-07:00

As some of you know I have aquired a very loving lab since I've been here in Appomattox, VA. However, I unfortunately need to give him up because of an agreement the landlord and my roomate made before I came.
I adore this dog.
His name is Pedro and it breaks my heart to think I cannot have him in my life. But he needs to be an outside dog, which he is not right now.
If you know of anyone who is interested in a most gentle, loving, submissive, around 4 year old, NEEDS to be outside in a big open space (GREW UP on a farm, fine with no fence, as long as cars are not prevalent) dog..........then PLEASE email me. (erinintrevado@gmail.com)

2007-03-04T17:08:00.000-08:00

We fired the salt kiln. It's a large gas kiln where once it gets to a certain temperature, a piece of angle iron is filled with salt and poured to either side, front and back of the kiln. This is Jeremy squinting at the fumes given off by the salt.

Drew's face, with the kiln reflecting off of it.

MY TOPS! Most of them spin beautifully with glaze.

I have never been so happy with a firing. Each of my "animal's" surfaces turned out deeper and more complex than I expected. My favorite part of this glaze ("Ben's E), is the lovely blue vein it left down the center.

This is also "Ben's E", because it was in the very front of the kiln and completely exposed to the salt, the glaze bleached to show more blue. The part I have not been able to capture with my camera are the TONS of crystals that formed on the back of the piece.

I consider this piece to be the most successful of the firing. The glaze sat in all the cracks, and that glaze that was left on the surface pooled around what's known as the "orange peel" effect that comes from the salt in a salt firing.

if this land could talk.

2007-02-19T05:01:00.000-08:00

The house has been torn down, as the bricks holding the 1830 portion, crumbled when you touched them. I know a lot of you are devistated that this home was not saved, but it would have cost millions to put it back together.

As I was walking up to see where the house once stood, I saw this, laid purposefully in the dirt. One of the demolition guys must have found it, and placed it where John would find it.

This perspective could not be seen when the house was up.

Along with the house, the old horse barn (John built) was taken down. All wood, every bed, comforter, desk, even wine bottle that was left and completely unusable was burned and buried. There is much in this ground that was once living and now once again, part of the land. It's a comforting concept to me.

All of my tops glazed, but not fired. They look like chess pieces to me.

Drew with Roxy. She thinks she is a lap dog, I can't say that we're all that discouraging.

2007-02-15T05:54:00.000-08:00

I spent the night in a tent because of the ice on the roads. Along the boys in "shanty town", I slept (in my own tent) while the ice covered every branch outside. It was not nearly as painful as I had imagined, but I don't do it every night. They do.

What I woke up to.....

I can't say these are the most original compositions, but how could you pass this up?

After the sun came out and melted all of the ice within a short time, the sky became incredible.

I found this structure (anyone know what it is?), and fell in love with the surface and form of it.

more of my favorite structures.

2007-02-07T21:06:00.000-08:00

I have been finding dead animals around on my daily walks. Deer, a dog, a turkey. Like the burned house, the sight of such death is sad, but oddly serene. I find the decomposition process really facinating. So much so, that I brought an (already) detached deer leg back to the studio to draw, when I finished, I put it on a high table outside (so the dogs wouldn't get it) to watch it decompose.

There is such immense elegance in a deer leg. Even when the rest of the deer is mangled (from other animals feeding), the leg is still mostly whole (including hair). I have seen this in both dead deer I have found.

2007-01-31T07:41:00.000-08:00

Looks a bit like an animal skin?

The window of my studio reflected into a plaster pool, just poured.

I came upon 50 or so broken eggs. From a distance, I thought one animal had gotten into another's nest. As I got closer, I realized it was a compost pile.

Spinning tops. Yes, they really do spin. Wouldn't it be lovely to have hundreds on the floor spinning at the same time, then knocking into one another once they begin to slow down?

"Ern" visited this past wekend. We went on a walk, and found the actuall "Cub Creek". This place has all the rawness I'd hoped from rural Virginia.

2007-01-24T07:41:00.000-08:00

Just to be clear, I was not living in the house when the fire happened. It was the day after Christmas, it is unknown how the fire started.
I am living with a girl in town, named Kat. She is the most laid back person I've ever met.
This is the house, my room is the front one, upstairs.

Jared playing with Roxy before dinner.

2007-01-18T20:17:00.000-08:00

As a result of a fire, I have been displaced, as have John Jessiman, the director of Cub Creek, and the other residents who lived in the large plantation home at Cub Creek residency. This is my first view of the house coming over the hill, since it burned.

The only part of the house that still stands (the brick section), is the original house built in 1833. The addition (all wood, and completely gone) was built in 1850. This house was more than double the size when I visited in late summer.

On what used to be a red formica table, that John made, sits two of his large pieces, along with tea pots by Hitomi, Takoru (Shigaraki), and a couple of Heineken bottles.