Ricky Maldonado

Artist Statement   |   Show Record & Vitae

	Yellow Diamond				Large Plate Red earthenware with glaze decoration
	Plate-framed Red earthenware with glaze decoration				Sun God Vessel Red earthenware with glaze decoration
	Vertigo IV Red earthenware with glaze decoration

I am the sole creator of my pieces, using the process of coil building. Although I can throw, it is much more satisfying for me to use coils. For now my choice of clay is Terra Cotta.

I am inspired by nature and architecture. When I see a color combination, a shape of a leaf or the arch in a bridge, I will jot it down and will eventually incorporate it into my work.

After building a piece, I will sand it smooth and then burnish it with my hands using the natural oils form my skin, then I polish it with soft plastic that I collect from the dry cleaners. Only this plastic works in producing the soft luster that I look for. Not using rulers or templates, I work with a mirror in front of me so that I can get my shape and design as perfect as I can. After I've sanded and burnished my piece, I mark the piece using a soft pencil, and continue to mark as I rotate the piece in front of me. Then I draw from dot to dot until the design is finished, the pieces are green as I work on them. I then apply black slip where I have drawn my design. I then apply the glaze one dot at a time, using a small sable brush. The piece is then fired, once.

My subject matter originates from my Apache blood and has transformed in the eleven years since I discovered clay from a very simple primitive look to an extreme visual in both design and shape.

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