Gilded Vessel #36

The pieces that I have submitted for the Concorso Internazionale delle Ceramiche all have these characteristics in common, the clay forms are meant to be ceremonial in spirit, the surface is a collage composite which has been lavishly gilded with mixed media, including acrylics, permanent gigments, lacquers and silver, copper and fumed metal leaf.

My concerns are to create an opulent and eclectic narrative, one that cannot be achieved with ceramic glaze colors. There are ten to twenty layers of colors on each piece, they are not planned very precisely in advance, but seem to take on their own life as I proceed. I have found real gold to be an extraordinary material, one that cannot be handled without some deep subconscious response, and have discovered that, while at work on these pieces, a part of myself is traversing with Minoans, the Incas, the Persians, the Byzantines and Gustav Klimt.