The Lonely Lighthouse (Ceramics Fall 2022)

Sculpture #2: Instagram (Stayokaystudio)

The Lonely Lighthouse

The Lonely Lighthouse is a piece inspired by the Instagram artist, Stayokaystudio, who’s core message is that it is acceptable to not be functioning at your best all the time but also to appreciate not being at your worst either, emphasizing that “staying okay” is a perfectly fine way to live.  There is a theme in their work of how existing can be incredibly challenging, so they create little figures to exist with you and remind you that everything is going to be okay.  My piece is inspired by this theme rather than the physical appearance of Stayokaystudio’s work itself, though I did include a little easter egg of my interpretation of their work inside the final piece.

Typically, copying someone’s work exactly is not interesting, so I extracted the theming and drew up a concept around that.  In my experience, the indoors are often the prime places to experience the most emotions, especially when being alone in your room where reflecting on your actions seems inevitable.  Combining this idea with the setting of a lighthouse, buildings notoriously distant from society and paired with loneliness, seemed like the best way to convey the theme.  However, I wanted there to be a shimmer of hope with the message “to stay okay” being delivered, so I emphasized a large window in which a bird could deliver a letter with the message inside (though in the final display the letter was unable to defy gravity in the bird’s beak and was instead set on the table).

Constructing a lighthouse proved mildly difficult, especially when I made the inhabitant so large that in the building accommodating him, I lost the ability to fit more detail and furniture.  As a result, I was only able to fit a table and chair inside the building’s first floor, though I figured this would be enough for the figure to sit and contemplate.  Inspired by the diversity of blues in the tilework in the Wiley Hall bathroom, I opted to tile the floor of the lower floor in a similar style and color.  The color scheme ended primarily blue, white, and black to convey the dreary nature of the lighthouse, with a touch of brown to create a slightly more interesting end product.

The Lonely Lighthouse taught me a lot about strengthening architecture by creating a several story structure in separate pieces.  Though if I were to do it again, I would definitely take more care to allow for dry time so the walls could have lined up flusher and been smoother overall, as the tower is very wonky from certain angles.  However, creating an interactive structure with dollhouse-like characteristics is something I would love to explore again.  I’d also love to explore a more articulated figure like the one I created to inhabit the space, perhaps with elbow and knee joints and a more thought through articulation method.

Future Me Thoughts (Spring 2024)

Ahhhh naïve past me... thinking I could get away with just one or two articulated figures in my ceramics career (as I sit here having done 14 figures in a year and a half).  However this was a great starting place and I'm very proud of my lighthouse keeper as a first ever articulation attempt.  My comments on the structure still hold true, it's a bit wobbly but for a first house it was not a bad attempt.  Now that I think of it, this specific project fueled my entire Ceramics II semester... interesting.  There are several projects in my life that feel like big milestones in my creative and technical abilities, ones that live on fondly regardless of their flaws due to what they did for me.  This is one of those... it'll always hold a very special place in my heart.  It walked so my future projects could run!

WIP PHOTOS

Making the figure first was a big must for me to ensure the rest of the house was in keeping with his size.  As I mentioned above, he was slightly too big in the end and I couldn't keep a perfect scale without making the lighthouse massive

My favorite way of making structures is the slab method.  Doing trims like baseboards act as a great support for the walls without looking out of place (plus baseboards make great detailing... houses without them feel weird to me)

Twist-ties are my #1 choice for attaching figures together as I discovered for the first time here.  Test fits are good throughout the process not only for making sure things fit but also to feel like you're making process

The floors, windows, and cone were done with shiny glaze and the rest was with underglaze.  My light blue glaze for both the floor and the keeper's shirt was actually a Jungle Gem that I picked around all the colored bits with a small brush to make it solid blue.  I'm still SHOCKED that I didn't end up with any of the colored bits in any of this!!

Kiln firing!

The Wiley Hall bathroom floors (which I visited frequently) inspired the lighthouse floors.  I felt that blues and neutrals worked for the lonely feeling

Assembly!

This particular construction is quite simple, one ribbon threaded through the body.  I didn't make the top head hole big enough to re-thread the other end through so I had to tie a knot onto the ribbon inside the body.  This means I couldn't pull it very tight so his head is pretty floppy, a bit of a liability.  Each limb has one hole and the head and body are hollow so the stringing could take place.  That being said a needle is still required to get the ribbon though easily. 

If he had his feet stuck to the ground his was capable of standing (his head knot has loosened so much that this is challenging to do in current day)

Chillin' after the kiln unloading