Life Map, a performance/installation was designed, directed and created by students from the Clay Plus One Workshop during the 2011 Hays Summer Gallery Walk.

The production began with a blue field and mounds of clay. Artists cut slabs and pieced them together, then used their fingers to blend the clay into a chaotic whole, preserving the marks of each artist touch in a wild and unorganized, but beautiful chaos. The experience of concentrated, shared work was focused, relaxing and spiritual.

Next, the artists stretched and pulled the clay, smoothing it with their palms to create a blank slate representative of a new life.

Developing a pattern from concentric circles and lines radiating from the center, each artists textured and created patterns in one circle, creating a mandala.

In Phase 2, artists and models took their places. Artists assumed a role based on a stage of life: youth, reproductive age, maturity, and elderly. As the artists sculpted a clay head over the head of the model, characters began to appear. Once completed, the characters walked the path of life, then held hands and walked to the center of the mandala and raised their arms in celebration.

The masks were removed and mounted on the mandala. The clay was then removed and recyled completing the life cycle.

Artists:
Youth: Tina Hagley and Luke McCampbell
Reproductive: Stasya Berber and Debi Cox
Maturity: Richard Dillard and Linda Ganstrom
Age: Christy Kosmicki and Christina Lamoureaux

All photographs are courtesy of Martin and Christina Lamoureaux

Student Work from the Workshop

Photographs by Sheldon Ganstrom

Michaela Groeblacher's Snow White investigates stereotyping and issues of "chick" sins.

Jillian Thompson's tree shelters ceramic treasures from yesterday with an attitude of blended nostalgia and sarcasm.

Christina Lamoureaux's encaustic painting over printed clay created depth and mystery.

Superimposing the landscape of Castle Rock onto a male torso, Christina Lamoureaux worked with a variety of cold surfaces including encaustic.

Wild Life.We are the land.

Inpired by the grace of her father's life, Tina Hagley's work "Human Detritus" explored the process of "collecting and shedding" along life's path.

Sharon McCoy's Princess is not about to share her power and has no interest in kissing frogs.

 

Attitude and intrigue couple to create a poignant and distrubing piece by Sharon McCoy.

Rescuing an old ceramic collectible, this sensitive figure by Sharon McCoy cherishes a broken porcelain hummingbird.

 

Sharon McCoy's sampler includes a variety of things we investigated in the workshop: found objects as presentation devices, slip dipped metal cup, modge podge pattern pieces, glued fabric and quilts.

Anne Bannister's calf seems hung with its gender role. Re-purposing old spark plugs found on her grandparent's farm, Anne's articulated calf pleads for attention.