Murals in Ceramics 3                               

Ceramics by Catherine Karakosta Roban                                       

"Pristina",   the porcelain sculpture below is one that incorporates another love of mine...Orchids and the Phaleonopsis.   These beautiful flowers are commonly called the moth orchid and like the goddess shown here are quite elegant and pristine.   In my mind the women I depict, in many of my sculptures, are goddesses.  In this piece she is one who gives birth to white orchids larger than life itself.   Each flower is actually 10 inches in size.

  The orchid stems are wound with mono-filament and they seem to shine with an inner vibrancy that gives each one the feeling that they are from a world of fantasy.   They reach out from the hand that created them and give birth to the flowers like so many white moths. 

You can see how this clay work began if you look at the first page of my Ceramic section.   The picture was taken when I had just began forming the head piece of the Goddess Pristina. 

My interest has always been rooted ...in the mystic world of the Women who create life and the Goddesses who rose out of the Fables of our past.  There is a certain fascination that comes from reading of their exploits and  the part that women have played in all aspects of our mythology.......

If  indeed..... the stories are really only myths ?

There is a new  Goddess.... that has appeared and now towers above all others in today's culture.   She stands out from all the rest and has to be one of my favorites.   Here is a woman who commands respect from all who confront her.   I will have to say that there are few who could confront her and survive;  either her charm or on the other hand her wrath.     She is shown here as the guardian of one of my firings.

"Miss. Piggy"   Kiln Goddess

It would seem that Texas has become ...a prominent place not only to be from,  but also to live in.     Especially if you are the president of these United States.  

Since Texas is becoming more popular I feel it would be appropriate to show you one of my Texas ceramic creations.  I was asked by a designer if I could help him prepare something for the wife of one of his clients. The client lived in the great state of Texas and this was to be  a surprise present.

Since everything in Texas is BIG and BEAUTIFUL, the gift had to be in keeping with the occasion.  The single yellow rose in the picture above is only one of  twelve yellow roses that were a created to form a ceramic bouquet. The bouquet was not a part of the mural.  There was another surprise waiting for the wife,  one of the roses had an exact replica of her face in the center.

The large ceramic piece shown here to the right was a separate piece of art and was not part of the bouquet.  It measured seven feet by five feet and was prepared for mounting on the wall....

I was informed that the client had to remove the moose head over the fireplace in the master bedroom to make room for this new addition....      Just joking of course.

Once upon a time.... there was a house, on the edge of the water,  that an architect named Don Roban designed.  It was not made of straw but was constructed of wood and stone and even the fiercest winds could not blow it down;  but there was something missing.   It needed a goddess to protect it from the sea and also from the storms of life.   There rose up from the depths of  the ocean and the vastness of thought a name that few have ever heard.  The name was   .... Undine.

Undine, is a story by La Motte Fouque.    It was published in German in the year 1811 and was first translated into English in 1818.   The author took the name from Goethe.  Undine is a water-sprite who was picked from the sea by a fisherman who's wife had lost her only child.  She was adopted and raised by the fisherman's wife and her " other-worldly "  creation was never revealed to anyone.  Undine met and fell in love with a knight who's name was Huldbrand.  Only then did she reveal  that she is was not human.  

I believe that this is enough of an incentive for anyone to find out how this story ends.  It has many similarities to the tale, The Little Mermaid written by Anderson.   Much like the Little Mermaid, it was eventually presented as a stage production.   Undine as an opera and the Little Mermaid as a Ballet.

Undine the sculpture was more than a work of art.   Its creation was based on engineering principles without which it could not exist.    Much like Undine, the goddess,  it came from a sea of thought and imagination.   The skeleton of the figure is made up of  bronze rods welded together to form a multitude of metal trusses. The inner body was designed to withstand the force of   every stress to which it has, so far,  been subjected.  The outstretched arms are designed as trusses and they hold up a network of ceramic beads and  over one mile of quarter inch thick colored twine.  The hair piece alone weighs one hundred seventy five pounds and is installed in two sections.  The head is some twenty five feet above the marble mantle of the fireplace below.  One slip during the installation would have been a disaster.   The materials used on the sculpture include porcelain and stoneware along with material that was woven together with fibers to form a covering for the inner bronze body.

                                                                 Old Man of the Sea Kiln God

Medusa means.... "Sovereign female wisdom"  in Sanskrit it is "Medha", in Greek it is "Metis"   and in Egyptian it is "Met or Maat."  The legendary female Goddess appears to have been known as far back as 1400  BC in Minoan Crete.  It would seem from the writings that her fame was  imported into Greece from Libya where she was worshiped by the Libyan Amazons as their sacred Serpent-goddess.  She has also been associated with the goddess Athena from Libya and the names might have been interchangeable.   She was one of the sisters known as the Gorgon.  Her hair was said to have the appearance of  snakes,   showing that her origin might possibly be from African lineage.   My wish was to show the feminine side of a complicated woman who has been misunderstood through out the ages.  

Medusa is a complex goddess and her creation in all her ceramic splendor was a painstaking adventure requiring many months of work not only in ceramics but also in the art of  leaded glass and lighting.  The smaller snakes that are seen framing the head as a crown and those entwined over the body are all part of the ceramic construction.   The larger multi-colored snakes are done separately.  They are hollow and are made of colored glass set into copper and lead surrounds.  The procedure used to make the snakes is almost the same as that used over the centuries in the creation of  stained glass windows.  The final hi-tech addition to Medusa is the use of  special lighting tubes that run through the hollow interiors of every snake. 

The visual effect of the glowing snakes when seen at  night might give the viewer some idea of the feeling that Perseus had when he encountered the  Medusa for the first and also for the last time.  The sensation he felt might not have been fear as much as it was one of being in awe of such a woman.

For anyone not familiar with Greek mythology,  Perseus,  after killing the Medusa, returns home with her  head to show the people that she no longer existed as a threat to their world if , indeed,  she was ever a threat to anyone outside of  her home. 

Because the Medusa had the spirit of a fierce warrior and also had the ability to turn her enemies into stone,  her likeness was put on the shields and chariots of many men who were going into battle in the seventh century BC.   In this way it was their hope that they would become invincible. 

In a way it is a bit ironic that the gaze of Medusa was said to turn men into stone and now we are seeing a sculpture of her in stone-ware.....and so far she has only turned a   few heads in admiration.                                                                                                        Medusa Tail detail          Materials Used... The figure is made of   Raku glazed ceramics with many of the small snakes sculpted as overlays on the body.  The larger snakes are made of glass "cabochon" jewels,  set in copper foil and leaded in place.   The necklace and eyes are illuminated from within and the pupils and the eyes change color when observed from different angles.    The entire sculpture is mounted on a gray lacquer backing to simplify the installation.  The project took three years from inception to completion. 

The coiled snakes of Medusa... also symbolize immortality as it was thought that snakes have the ability to shed their skin and therefore they could emerge as a life reborn.   In many of the original sculptures and pictures of the Medusa she had snakes coiled around her waist,  in what has been called     "the sacred healing knot."    This symbol progressed to our present time when now the snakes are shown coiled around a staff called a caduceus.  This is the staff used by doctors throughout the ages to  symbolize their dedication to healing.

What do you buy a friend for his birthday... who's wife just got him a Rolls Royce golf cart?    It's not a difficult decision if you know where to go.

The occasion was Jimmy Dean's birthday and the gift was a cookie jar with the head of this famous actor singer on it.  Don't forget to include among his accomplishments his great sausage company.

The jar was filled with chocolate chip cookies and that,  by the way,  is one of his favorite things.

NOTE:  two of my major works are now available .......                                    Please  Email for details...............................................