Making of Golden Teacher

FEB 2023
Notified of Horizon Festival involvement – a group exhibition at the Old Ambulance Station, Namba/Nambour.
I spent February dreaming up concepts, one of which, was a mushroom shrine.  Below are the first sketches, along with the initial delivered concept.

first design sketches

Sketches refined down to 2 designs

Two concept sketches, one constructed from wood
and the other from clay, 40cm tall, ideally displayed on a plinth
Whilst ’nature shelter’ is subtle with its psychedelic references,
the shrine sits on the overt end 😛
Themes: psilocybin’s link to spirituality
References to early Christian shrines

note: previous to creating the concept I’d been researching Medieval art (filled with Christian iconography) which became a huge influence on the work.  Once we had settled on the exhibition title ‘nonsensual’ and a general theme of playfulness this helped to inform the work.  I will say as the work progressed it became less about the humour in my psychedelic evangelising ways and more about the shared connection to something bigger than ourselves, with consistent consideration that the end work be visually compelling.

MARCH 2023
Decided on the terracotta shrine concept,  Sculpted the work, refined it, and let it airdry ready for firing.

First sculpted shrine on left and form mockup for verion 2

APRIL 2023
21/04/23 Unloaded the kiln to find the original shrine (above left) had exploded during firing (below).

First shrine exploded during the firing process

MAY 2023
Knowing I had to begin again I decided to refine the shrine and to construct a base form in cardboard (two images above) that I would then slab construct on top of.  I chose to use the robust BRT clay for version two.  Version two included candle holders, an altered curve, a halo made of ceramic beads, a mushroom and ceramic flowers inside the shrine, and tiny sculptures.

Version 2 sketched concepts – with add ons and alterations

JUNE 2023
Finished sculpting the second shrine and had it successfully fired.  Sculpted the tiny objects to appear within the shrine, alongside the halo beads.

Tried two different glaze firings onto the bisque shrine (both looked terrible) before I settled on applying gold leaf as a cold finish.

Left: Bisque-fired shrine (version 2) with a stage insert not used in the final piece.
Right: The first layer of pink underglaze with many more layers added on top that resulted in a patchy/muddy colour mess once fired.  

Plinth potential to display the shrine.

JULY 2023
Had to troubleshoot a ceramic bracket to hold the halo into position.  Found a plinth via fb marketplace.  Sourced candles – difficult to find in small sizes.  Visited the gallery to work out the size measurements for the installation.  Came up with the concept to create emanating floor circles, made of ceramic tiles, that would be specific to the artwork and the space.  Created the tile templates and rolled & cut out the tiles (over 300).

Hilarious Photoshop mockup to work out the stage dimensions (using my known height).
Surprisingly a fairly reliable method though I did have to come back with a tape measure to work out the stage depth 😛

AUGUST 2023
Finished rolling tiles.  Bought plywood to cut a new top for the plinth and added a fresh coat of white paint to the outside.  Made a new porcelain mushroom for the inside – a preference over a previous terracotta version.

Only 2 tiles broke in the firing.  Made extra tiles in case there were last-minute breakages at installation.  Glued in halo using the ceramic supports.

Unloading the kiln, I was initially disappointed with the fired clay tones of the tiles, worried they wouldn’t be gold/orange enough.  I had an updated plan to add gold leaf to some of them.  When I laid out the tiles, to work out the final spacing for the install, I realised adding gold leaf would be overkill and their tones were perfect.

22/08/23 Installed the work
26/08/23 Exhibition Opening

Slightly more accurate Photoshop mockup once I had stage measurements.
I ended up being quite conservative with spacing – didn’t want the tiles falling off the stage.

Created the tile templates using paper and a ruler from my deceased father, an important process consideration.

Creating the template for the six rings made up of over 300 tiles.

The final, completed and installed work.

Completed Work

More documentation of the completed work can be found HERE.

Development Space was also made available through 2nd Space an initiative of ArtsCoast – Spaces for Creatives program by Sunshine Coast Council.

I would also like to acknowledge Megan William and her mentoring, specifically the suggestion to present Golden Teacher independently from other works.

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