A.B. Carnahan

Overview

My approach to ceramic art is greatly influenced by the sensibilities I have gained from studying and working in the field of architecture. Every project is affected by a design consciousness that is rooted in respect for site and process.
Regarding site, or setting, I find inspiration in the two extremes of urban versus rural, their contrasts, and what happens when they merge in one spot. As a child growing up in Colorado, I had an early appreciation for the untouched and wild beauty of the Rocky Mountains. During my time in Arkansas, I explored the Ozarks and Mississippi River Delta, the location of my Bayou Bartholomew sketches and chapel design featured in this project. And, over the years, I have traveled to unsettled places such as Death Valley, the Greek isles, rural Vermont, and the Italian countryside. I find inspiration in the natural architecture of these places, spatial and experiential elements formed by natural forces, often over long periods of time: hillside bluffs exposed by years of wind, a mountain valley carved by glaciers, or volcanic islands. As an architect, I consider how to visually blend human occupation into a rural setting. Sometimes, the best solution is to leave the natural place untouched. But often, there needs to be a seamless transition from man-made to natural surroundings. I am interested in buildings that enhance their surroundings, either through contrasts or blending. Many of my ceramic projects, such as Pedestal Vessels, incorporate a setting by grounding the vessels with a pedestal, a place. Or, as in Bottlescapes, I use groupings of variations of the same form to create an environment, reminiscent to rolling hills.
In addition to untouched rural landscapes, I also study the other extreme type of site, the historic urban setting. Whether it's a real first-hand experience or imagined, descriptions of cities allow me to dream up new ideas for creative projects. When sketching city fabric, I uncover layers of human occupation going back hundreds, sometimes thousands of years such as in the case of Rome and sketches from my time in Italy. While living in Rome, I explored its many ancient ruins, preserved amongst present day life and the vibrance of a busy city. I witnessed the beautifully destructive effect of time on buildings- massive masonry walls wearing down brick by brick over centuries. The monstrous monuments of antiquity show their age through weathering and patinas. Many of my finishes emulate these effects, like the patina on a copper gutter, the green deepened by the pollution of the city. Living in Baltimore has given me a constant supply of cityscape inspiration. Though this is a younger, industrial city, it still has the dense essence of human occupation and a history of its own to uncover. Many of my sketches take place along the harbor because it is such a key factor in Baltimore’s story and still holds some of that old industrial charm. Some of these sketches make their way directly onto my projects, while others simply inspire the shapes of things.
The other key to my design consciousness, as mentioned, is respect for process: honest evidence left bare of how things are formed or held together. The most obvious example is the exposed structure of a building, such as steel beams or load-bearing masonry walls. Even seemingly small things, like exposed fasteners or the texture left from concrete formwork, tell a beautiful and compelling story as the marks of construction. This relates back to why I am so drawn to historic ruins because the bare bones of the structure are revealed. Both the String Slabs project and Vessels inTension reveal the forces that are placed upon the form during construction. The end result of every piece is a direct outcome of the formation process. In a more subtle way, pieces in Drafted Vessels and the Design/Build project expose the construction methods of slab-built ceramics, highlighting joints between the slabs.
This gallery section, Architecture, an Introduction, serves as an explanation for my personal creative aesthetic. It contains work samples from design projects, sketches from travels, and abstract models. It is a condensed illustration of the essence of my work.

Overview

Prior to Large Coil Vessels, I worked mostly on the potter’s wheel, creating functional pottery. When I began to coil-build, I was forced to slow down and this gave me time to focus on the sculptural qualities of the pieces. As I built the vessels up inch-by-inch, I began to consider them as containers of space. These pieces mark the beginning of my work in sculptural ceramics.
I incorporated lines to enhance and define the geometry. I also used lines to trace the topography of the vessel. I began experimenting with thin, skin-like slips and finishes, rubbing stain into the surface to create patinas.

Process:
I begin by draping a slab over a simple mold to form the base. After it stiffens, I build up the walls with coils of clay, smoothing and shaping upwards. I later trim the rim and cut openings or add lines and texture to the surface.

Overview

I made the pieces in this project right after moving to Baltimore, a change in scenery that affected my work as I sought to capture some elements of the industrial port city. I was particularly interested in the Domino Sugar factory, possibly because it survives along the waterfront, the last hold-out of Baltimore’s manufacturing era. One can sit on the pier in Fells Point and look across the harbor to see cranes unloading tons of sweet cargo off of giant tanker ships. The iconic sign, factory, and ships entered many of my sketches and later influenced forms and surfaces.
With Pedestal Vessels, I sought a sense of place, a way to ground the object in a setting. The pedestals form the site and create new ways to present traditional pieces like bowls and jars. Like a ship on the harbor, the pieces hover, half-submerged on the top plane of the pedestal. The finishes mimic the patinas, rust, grit, and industrial grunge of Baltimore.
Process:
I used a variety of building methods for this project, including wheel-throwing, slab building, drape molds, coil building, and even the basic pinch-pot method. Each piece has a unique design and site interpretation.

Overview

I used grouping to create a sense of place in the Bottlescapes project. The bottles are wheel-thrown and altered variations of the same form. Slight changes in shape and color work together to depict an abstract landscape.
On the domed forms, I etched fine lines into the surface to illustrate timelessness, like the many layers of strata within a hill. The cylindrical bottles have thicker, raised lines that look more like divided landscapes from above, such as pastures and farmlands viewed from an airplane.

Process:
Both bottle types are thrown on the potter’s wheel and the shape is altered after the clay stiffens up. I add detail etched lines and raised lines using small strips of clay or by craving with a fine pointed tool.

Medium: earthenware, terra sigillata, stains & oxides, glaze

Overview

After working with string as texture for slab-built pieces, I pushed the idea further by pressing slabs onto suspended string formwork. As a result, the finished skin of the vessel directly related to the shape. The process allowed me to press the slab through openings in the string design revealing voids, linear supports, and intersections. I could also reveal the stress upon the clay by highlighting cracks and fractures formed during the stretching process.
In this project, the string jig acted as a sort of test model, a way to visualize the form before solidifying it in clay. However, the complexity of the form was limited by the need to drape clay from one direction. I wanted to find a way to express more complicated string forms and, at the same time, reveal a greater sense of tension and movement. This led me to the Vessels inTension project.

Process:
I wrap and weave a string form, using flat diagrams to help me make 3 dimensional decisions. Once the string formwork is complete, I drape it with a clay slab and press the clay into cracks and voids. Sometimes, I will use more than one slab to drape or attach clay where needed for stability. When the slabs have stiffened up, I carefully remove the string, leaving the texture intact.

Overview

The shape and skin of these vessels is determined by the tensile forces of the original string model. In other words, structure forms the aesthetic. Before any clay was used, I conceptualized this vessel using architectural methods: sketch drafting and model building. I began this project by drafting a spiral object in plan view and then building a 3 dimensional string model.
The string tension models of the Catalan architect, Antoni Gaudi, infused his designs with beautiful cantenary arches and inspired me to express the tension of my string model in the final piece. A variety of casting and molding techniques allowed me to preserve the string in form and in texture.

Process:
Using a wood and metal frame, I began by weaving twine and string into a complex 3 dimensional shape, guided by my hand-drafted plan. I then laid a thick slab over the entire string form, sealing all the edges, and poured plaster inside. This gave me a plaster prototype that I could use to make a mold for slip-casting multiples of the same form.

Photo Credits

Sketch of Colonia Guell, model photograph repainted by Gaudi:
Gaudidesigner.com
http://www.gaudidesigner.com/uk/colonia-guell-photographie-de-la-maquette-inversee.-aquarellee-par-gaudi_369.html
Replica of model of Colonia Guell:
http://www.streets-of-barcelona.com/visiting-colonia-guell-barcelona/
Interior Photograph of Colonia Guell:
http://www.gaudicoloniaguell.org/en/what-visit/gaudis-crypt
Photograph from inside of Gaudi's model:
Gaudidesigner.com
http://www.gaudidesigner.com/uk/colonia-guell-photography-from-inside-of-the-model_368.html

Overview

This installation project consisted of work that I created using the same methods highlighted in the Design/Build project. I sought to transform the room into a drafted evolution of form, revealing my process and end results as a continuum. The installation included sketches, drawings, and diagrams, as well as ceramic vessels.
My intention for these vessels is as containers of space, complex geometries that beg to be explored or inhabited. They exist as an abstract expression of place with finishing details inspired by my own urban surroundings. I want the thin skin of the pieces to reveal the clay beneath; the edges, lines, and joints to be highlighted by rusty patina. The exposed joints show how the vessel was built, illustrating the process of construction.

Process:
Base molds are used to build variations of a shape. I cut out a pattern from the clay slab and drape it over the base mold, usually attaching one or two joints that are incorporated into the form. When the base has stiffened, I remove it from the mold and begin building upward or outward with slab walls. The joints give me a starting point for the forms directionality. Sometimes, I pause construction to test ideas through sketching. Each previous wall informs the next as the shape evolves throughout the building process.

Overview

My goal for this piece is to create a sense of place through form alone. The pair of vessels, a dissected elipse, work together in a spatial relationship where vantage point becomes a part of the experience. Like a Serra Sculpture, moving around the piece changes the viewer’s perception.
A wall may start out as concave and, around the corner, it morphs into a sloped convex. The vessel relies upon rotation and movement, as if the piece needed to be inhabited to be fully appreciated. The way in which the vessel meets the ground is an important detail. At one end, the form seems to dive straight into the ground, solidly anchored. On the other, it arcs gracefully upward, touching the ground on two end points. As in my other projects, joints, seams, and edges are sharply defined. Finishes incorporate lines, textures, and subtle color variations to convey a sense of weathered age.

Process:
In order to create a dichotomy between the two parts, I began the bases from the same slab draped over a single mold. The base was then sliced and subtracted into two parts. The walls were erected in response to one another.

Overview

This project was the topic of a class I taught, which explained in full detail my working methods for slab-built pieces such as the ones featured in the Drafted Vessels installation. The objective is that design and construction occur simultaneously and inform each other throughout the creative process. I emphasize sketching and small test models as a way to integrate design. I also re-visit and redraw those initial design sketches when building the finished piece. This non-linear process mimics the design/build business model in the building construction industry, where one entity is responsible for both design and construction, fully integrating both processes.

Process:
Initially, I invest time in the design of base molds, a thick-walled clay form that serves as a support for slumping clay slabs into the same shape. This shape becomes the base of sculptural forms, which can vary as more clay is added above the base.
Base molds are used to build variations of a shape. I cut out a pattern from the clay slab and drape it over the base mold, usually attaching one or two joints that are incorporated into the form. When the base has stiffened, I remove it from the mold and begin building upward or outward with slab walls. The joints give me a starting point for the forms directionality. Sometimes, I pause construction to test ideas through sketching. Each previous wall informs the next as the shape evolves throughout the building process.