a selection of fairly recent lipworks . . .
Don Dougan - sculptor
                                     www.dondougan.com
BEYOND THE PALE: ADDENDUM
stoneware, slate, glass
20"x 15" x 3"

detail of glass below                     
Some over-lifesize lips modeled in a white stoneware clay body and fired with no glaze.  The ceramic was then mounted on buffed natural-cleft black slate, and the red glass fitted.
SLIPPING THE GREEN
cast bronze, river rock, and
two types of serpentine
11"x 9" x 3"

The rippling visual textures in the smooth-polished vertical serpentine and the contrasting tactile ripples in the horizontal serpentine create a sensual backdrop for the smooth stone and the relaxed lifesize lips.
JUST A PEEK
black stoneware, georgia pink marble, glass, indiana limestone, and virginia slate
12"x 13" x 2"

   deep graphite pucker
        cleft black, square top, pink rising
              iridescent blue-green shimmer
                                             
NO WAY SLICK
cast iron, brass, found wooden object, virginia slate
42"x 6½"x 3½"
detail
FALLACY #22
gold-leafed stoneware, belgian black marble, virginia slate
8½""x 16" x 2½"
The title is almost always the last step in the making of a piece.  The making of the piece is mostly done through following my intuition. 

All the choices - such as size, shape, finish, and the various juxtapositions of material or texture - are like reaching into a bag and by feel alone pulling out the elements that will make the composition. 

The process of providing a title is the final stage of work.  It is where I am able to figure out what I have been groping towards, when it all starts to make sense in a rational way, rather than just 'feeling' right.
This final stage of work - the title - is much like fitting the last word into a poem. 

One of my students recently described a piece of artwork by Joseph Cornell as being like a visual haiku.  When I heard this description it struck me as an excellent metaphor for many of my own strivings as well.