Oct
12
2018
Michael Schwegmann
I create sculptural representations of common hand tools, metal buckets, paint cans, and industrial components. Rather than making purely trompe l’oeil pieces, I make design choices so that an engaged audience understands the sculpture are more than what they may first seem at a distance. I think my sculpture looks a bit like the represented object, but more like a memory of that object–it looks like what we think that object looks like, or perhaps that object seen through a filter. In this way, my intent is to demonstrate the value that these objects have as symbols or metaphors, and their ability to engage intellects and emotions in unexpected ways. These sculptures become icons which may represent a whole industry, a big concept such as “work”, or maybe something personal, like “dad”. Process: I hand form all these pieces out of porcelain clay. I use wheel-thrown, extruded, and hand-modeled parts without casting molds. Fired to cone 11 (~2400 F) in natural gas reduction with my glaze formulas.