Tag: Life In The Studio

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only 3 left in the shop

I’ve been busy getting the studio set up for Open Studios this October and wanted to share that there are only 3 framed Bone Series pieces left available. The two squares (seen in this photo) are 30″ x 30″ x 1″ and the last rectangle is 48″ x 24″ x 1″.

With their balance of organic and geometric shapes and amazing shadows these guys make really striking additions to any space. They can hang flush mounted on the wall or be suspended with cables to float off the wall.

Check out seeing them in situ, here, here and here for some ideas of what they can do to your space!

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umbels are on the move

With the flower heads finished, they made the big move from Freedom Forge to Earth Art Studio which is really just a quick forklift trip from one end of our building to the other! When I thought the studio couldn’t get any fuller, we somehow squeezed in 6 gigantic flowers into my space so that Kirk has more room in his studio to work on the stems.

Everything still needs to be galvanized and given a patina, but I had to test out putting the ceramic elements onto the flowerhead forms to make sure the spacing was correct and that everything was looking good. Meanwhile Kirk started tacking the sections of the stems together. It took a few tries to get the angles just right but as soon as it started looking like a Dr Seuss tree, we knew we had it right. The final welds will create a smoother transition between each section. We’re so close to seeing what these guys are actually going to look like!

umbels are on the move | the dirt | Jenni Ward ceramic sculpture

This project is sponsored by:

A Feast of Flowers | Jenni Ward ceramic sculpture

yet another umbel update!

The six umbel shaped flower heads are finished and will be moving to my studio very soon while they await a trip to the galvanizer!

yet another umbel update! | the dirt | Jenni Ward ceramic sculpture
yet another umbel update! | the dirt | Jenni Ward ceramic sculpture
yet another umbel update! | the dirt | Jenni Ward ceramic sculpture

My studio had the vibe of an alien invasion for a few days while I filled all the ceramic forms with expansion foam. The idea of the foam is to support the rods when they are epoxied together. The middle photo shows the washers where the ceramic elements will meet the metal and where the epoxy will seal them together.

Preliminary work on the stems has begun and it will be really exciting to have the segments come together and see height of them take shape! Onward and Upward!

This project is sponsored by:

A Feast of Flowers | Jenni Ward ceramic sculpture

in the shop

When was the last time that you checked out the online shop?

There are lots of goodies in there looking for a happy home! Plus lots of great gifts for all of those upcoming birthdays. Choose FedEx Ground or Free Local Pick Up for your delivery options.

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photoshoot in the studio

I was lucky enough to get a studio visit from photographer Crystal Birns for a photoshoot of the current status of my studio. Be sure to come by the studio this October for my 18th and last Open Studios in Santa Cruz and see this crazy space for yourself!

Here are a few of my favorites that she got…

another umbel update!

Freedom Forge is going full steam ahead with umbel production! All of the flowerhead parts have been fabricated and now we’re tweaking the angles to adjust for just the right amount of organic movement in each flower, allowing them to be uniform and unique all at the same time. The big stems are coming up next and then there will be an adventure to the galvanizer in the very near future!

This project is sponsored by:

A Feast of Flowers | Jenni Ward ceramic sculpture

metal fabrication is in full swing

I’m loving seeing the process of making the metal parts for A Feast of Flowers and luckily Kirk McNeill’s studio is right around the corner from mine, so I can pop over to see what Kirk and his team are up to.

In my last post, the flower head ‘arms’ were bent for the outer ring of flowers and now those arms are being riveted and welded to the base plate. Eventually the inner layers of flowers will be made the same way and stacked on top of this larger base plate. This is only one layer and they’re already looking so cool! More to come, stay tuned!

This project is sponsored by:

A Feast of Flowers | Jenni Ward ceramic sculpture

umbel update

I’m excited to announce I’ve finally finished fabrication of all of the ceramic elements for A Feast of Fennels and every surface of the studio is covered in parts. Scroll down to see the progress on the metal fabrication happening!

Kirk McNeil and Franco Di Majo working on bending the rods that will create the flowerhead structures. Love the custom jig they made to get each curve just right. Can’t wait to see all these parts start to come together!

This project is sponsored by:

A Feast of Flowers | Jenni Ward ceramic sculpture

hello? can you hear me?

Apparently my blog feed has gotten stuck here on my website for the past month for unknown reasons and you have not been receiving your weekly The Dirt emails from me. Grrr…

I ~think~ I’ve fixed the issue and if the stars align, you should receive your regularly scheduled email on Friday morning. It should give you links to all the posts that got stuck or you might just get this post or possibly once again nothing at all will hit your inbox. sigh…

Thanks for your patience and fingers crossed we’ll be up and running again soon. You can always check out what I’m up to by navigating to The Dirt here. Including a scene from the studio here so you get a preview of what’s been going on!