Dave Sawyer | Ceramic Art & Digital Photography

The Red Wolf

Background and “in progress” photos

 

The Red Wolf

 
 
 

The Red Wolf

Along with birds.  Bears, wolves, and horses make up the top four of my favorite subjects. This work, features the Red Wolf, once a prolific predator that roamed from Texas to New York but is now limited to a total wild population just under two dozen found in a small portion of coastal North Carolina.  You can learn about the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department’s efforts to save the Red Wolf at https://www.fws.gov/project/red-wolf-recovery-program

This entire work is approximately 17” by 20” and the mandala is 15” by 11”. It is constructed by hand from an off-white earthenware clay body. It was bisque fired to cone 04 (1945 degrees F), then glazed with three coats of mid-temperature glazes and traditionally glaze fired to cone 6 (2201 degrees).

Here are some “in progress” photos as I was working on its design through completion.

original working sketch

Greenware after carving

After the bisque firing

Glazed and ready for glaze firing

After glaze firing and construction