2005.4 - KING PENGUINS

These pieces break many of my personal rules about making popular animals, but at least they are king penguins, and not emperor penguins. The trouble with popular animals is that they have been depicted badly so often. At least with an unusual animal, there aren’t so many around. That said, I actually made four of these: the first for a good friend, the second so I wouldn’t feel bad about giving away the first, the third because they made such a great pair, and the fourth because I blew up the third in the kiln.

These pieces are very stylized because the curve of the body is so important visually. When I was making the body, I had help from Mr. Yu Tang Wang, a distinguished retired architect from Taiwan. One of the things that I’ve always loved about the studio in Foothill College is the diversity and brilliance of some of the other students. In many ways, the pottery studio is the most intellectually stimulating place I’ve ever been. We are especially fortunate to have among us brilliant people from many countries, and many professions. Mr. Wang showed me how to use a spline to make the curve perfect in the body. I had had to make the body in three parts and then join them because it was so large, and I can’t control that much clay on the wheel. The orange markings on the sides of the head are done with under glaze, while the rest is our standard high fire glazes. My second and fourth penguins stand guard by my front door.