BREAKING IN ceramics

BLUE DEVIL Ceramics

I don’t make ceramics. I don’t make them because when I was in College and did it for a year, it consumed me.

I can spend all, alllllll of my time making, coiling, building, glazing, whatever! I would do nothing else and I want to do many other things too.

So I reign in my behavior by creating lots of drawings and sketches of things I want to eventually produce.

I finally found Greta Joachim. Her studio is filled with bowls, plates, jugs - and she serves everything she offers on her gorgeous wares. It was love at first sight when I drew out my images and then took the trip to see her space to then draw, score, puncture and texturize the plates. I also got the added bonus of buying a few of her pieces too.

Blue Devils is the beginning of a larger collection of Trinidad and Tobago Folklore that I would like to see in our tourism sector.

detail on plate

plate with chamber pot shaped mug

group of plates with mug

detail

This was the first thing that Greta made for me. The Blue Devils have a ritual of drinking liquids including alcohol out of chamber pots.

***GROSS DESCRIPTION AHEAD***

The Blue Devils eat and blow fire, pull blood red slime from their sharpened fangs and drink urine and feces. (all faked but looks very real) The object is to scare the shit out of children and adults alike. Their blue bodies stain anything in their path. They do a shuffle dance like the zombies in Thriller- some devils tie other devils with thick ropes. They carry wooden, pointed pitchforks that they menace you with while they scream at the top of their voices. Their little wire wings and coiled tails vibrating like an absurd slinky. They writhe on their bellies humping occasionally as they claw the ground. Their music is made with biscuit tins and they drink rum bottles of spirits with ripped wrapped cloth set on fire. They make a frightening, unforgettable display.

The crawling on the ground on their stomach

blowing fire - I didn’t achieve it this time….my sketch is better.

yes, I do sketches on lined paper Dean! 😈 whatever it takes

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