Perfect Perforations: Drawing Inspiration from the Landscape to Make Slab-Built Ceramic Sculpture Elaine Parks

In her latest body of work, Elaine has been experimenting with puncturing clay slabs as a nod to the shapes she sees in the landscape around her, from pores in a rock to scar holes from mining, which are prevalent in the area. Today, she shares her slab building process and how she has perfected her perforations. - Jennifer Poellot Harnetty, editor

"I'm trying to recreate the feeling I get from being in the landscape." - Elaine Parks

The Process

1. I start by rolling out two or more slabs between 1/4 and 3/4 of an inch thick on a canvas-covered board.

2. Since I'm making tall forms, I cut out long, narrow rectangles for the cylinder wall.

3. I flip them onto a thick piece of foam.

4. I poke holes into the inside surface using either my finger or a small wooden tool, depending on what size hole I'm looking for. Sometimes, I draw on the front surface with a pencil while the slab is still on the canvas board, then transfer the slab to the foam and push out around the drawn lines.

5. I bend the individual pieces around forms, so they will set up in a curve. I usually use rolled towels and cardboard tubes from rolls of newsprint.

6. After the pieces get to a soft-leather-hard stage, I stand them upright and join them together. I don't let them get too set up, because I want them to be soft enough to push from the inside when the piece is together. Sometimes this part is a little tricky, getting the cylinder to stand up and get it joined while it's a bit soft, but I can get a more organic result this way. The curve of the individual piece is helpful. At this stage, I wish I had three hands.

7. To finish, I push the seams together to get them joined well, then I push out and in to get the texture how I want it.

8. After it sets up to firm leather hard, I lay the form on its side on the foam and beef up the seams with coils.

9. Last, I add the foot, which is quite thick. I do this when the form is upright first. When the foot sets up enough, I put it back on the foam and push the middle up to form a foot ring. There's a little back and forth - upright and laying on the foam - to finish the foot.

10. I dry the piece very slowly and then fire to cone 04.

11. I glaze using a combination of studio-mixed and commercial low-fire glazes. Some are painted on, and some are layered using a mouth sprayer. The sprayed-on glazes are mostly layers of very matt glaze.

12. Last, I fire again to cone 06.