Bowls, bowls, bowls.

The bowls are complete! All that's left is to deliver them to my project participants. I am giving them to individuals with the instructions of taking 3-5 pictures of how they're using it (or not using it). I'm interested to see the different levels of creativity from everyone!

Before glazing.

I struggled between making the bowls all the same color and making them different, but considering the endless amount of color choices, I decided to go with different glazes. 

Unloading the kiln is just like Christmas. I was so excited to see how they turned out. And fortunately, only one casualty!

2 weeks to go!

I can't believe that this semester is already coming to an end. While I'm sad to see it go, I'm already excited about ceramics (and drawing!) next semester.

For this week, glazing glazing glazing. I will hopefully finish my bowls this week and present them to my participants for the next project. I will have to speed the process of people taking pictures a little, because of time restraints, but I'm hoping that the final project will still yield my hoped results.

I've already been thinking of what I want to focus on next semester. I definitely want to keep working on the extension of my duality project by continually adding more people. I also plan on making more spools over the break and into next semester. I found that there were a lot of options that I could do with the installation of my spools and I would definitely like to explore more of them--possibly doing a spacelab show. In addition to those projects, definitely more practice on the wheel! I feel that I got a good start this semester. Final pictures will be posted!

Three weeks to go!

These past couple of weeks have been a large lesson in letting go, sometimes your agenda doesn't get done the "right" way. I have found that I'm not a superhero, for sure. So, on to catching up with my blog posts--alot has happened! Last week I spent over 24 in the studio, whether painting or throwing. Although I got a lot done, managing my time better would have been a huge stress reliever. A big lesson to any procrastinator out there.

We finished up the modules project this past week, it was alot of work but I must say that I was happy with the results! It was definitely worth 3 tubes of superglue and 5 hours spent winding thread around spools.

Before hanging the spools from the ceiling I set them on a shelf to keep the strings from getting tangled together. Even though I had not thought of this as a way to display them, I loved how they looked. I would love to further explore this type of installation and possibly have a space lab show. I plan on making spools over break for next semester so I will have more to experiment with.

First spool up! 

 Final installation. 

For the final project, I have finished throwing the bowls and they are currently drying. I have 20 bowls to use for the project. Depending on how the glazes turn out, I may or may not use all of them. After they are glazed they will go to one of my 20 participants, after receiving the bowl I will have them take 3-5 pictures depicting how the bowl is being used--whether it sits in the cabinet, is used for dinner, or is used to hold random items from around the house. I want to get individual prints for each image and display them on a wall. I would like to have a picture book made to document all the different uses, but depending on time constraints, I'm not sure if I'll be able to do that component of the project. I will, however, make sure that the images I have will be printed off and be ready to display. 

I threw 15 bowls last Tuesday, definitely the most I've ever made in one day (or week for that matter!). The last wet clay day was a success. All that's left is glazing and documentation.

Week 11

First of all, I cannot believe how fast this semester has flown by. The wet work cut off date is less than two weeks away. Crazy. For ceramics, I'm finishing up my modules/units piece. Our final critique date is this Thursday. All of the spools have been sanded down, bisque, and slotted. Which I must say was quite a task, considering I have 83. I'm excited about the installation. I have already purchased the string to hang them with. I'm a little apprehensive about hanging them, they still seem very fragile, even after being fired. But if some of them did fall and break it could offer an interesting element into my final project.

For my final project I was really interested in incorporating a throwing element. I have been throwing some cups and bowls, but I would really like to be able to make successful vessels before the end of the semester. After seeing the examples of the next project, I was inspired by the artist who took pictures of individuals drinking out of her mugs. As I started thinking about this a little more, I became more interested in the process and story of inanimate objects. From the wheel to the recipient of the gift, where does it go? What happens to it? Does it get used for its intended purpose? After talking to my professor, we thought it would be much cooler and more interesting to have the participant get more involved. I want the participant to actually take pictures of what they're using a bowl for, do they eat their dinner out of it? Does it sit in their cabinet? Or is it a dish for their dog's water bowl? I want to get alot of people involved. I would love to get around 50 images from this project--images taken by the participants and images taken myself.

In the painting world, the palette knife is no longer my worst enemy. I find it comical that most things that I start out hating become some of my best pieces. Though I'm not complaining. I'm excited to get this piece finished up and start on the next two.

That's all for now, I plan to post pictures of my bowls this week, as well as my finished modules/units project!

Moving forwards.

This past week has definitely flown by, pieces due, new projects, and so many opportunities.

I'm very excited to have work that survived my wheel-throwing skills! I've made cups and small bowls so far, and I'm excited to keep learning and experimenting with different shapes. I'm encountering a bit of an "acorn" rut. All of my mugs have came out in the same shape, not by personal preference.

My second project (duality) is coming along. I have quite a bit of editing in my future (though it will be good experience). My biggest task for the week is editing and cropping down my images to unify them. I received alot of constructive feedback during our crit, I'm hoping to incorporate the new ideas and made a very impacting final presentation. I still want to stick with the projection display for the final critique, but I also want to get the individual images printed out. Possibly continuing this project into my senior year. VERY excited about where this can go.

Duality.

I can't believe that the semester is half way over, it's flown by so fast!


I finally finished my clay people this weekend. I'm starting with 10 people, and I hope to add more as the semester goes by. I've really enjoyed this project, I must say that it has been my favorite so far. I was definitely surprised by the amount of people willing to help me out. It's amazing what people will do in the name of art! I'm still not sure on how I'm going to project the photographs, I'm going to experiment today to see if I can figure out. I don't want to give too much away, but here are some pictures from the photo shoots:

Crazy week!

The fall semester is definitely in full-swing. Leaving little time to breathe. This week will mark a critical point in my art career thus far, my 200 level review. I'm both excited and nervous about being able to present all the work I've done since I began two short years ago!

I tried 5 different clay colors for my next project and decided on a dark-colored mixture consisting of barnard and redart. I'm very interested in darker colored clay and how much contrast it presented when applied to skin.

My First two (brave!) participants, my lovely sister and niece, were willing to help me out.

 I'm going to try to change around the lighting for the next people, I wasn't too satisfied with how the first session turned out. Most of the pictures turned out very dark and took a lot of editing to make lighter. Although, I'm intrigued at how much more dramatic the darker lighting looks.

Moving right along.

The spool making continues! I've moved the whole operation to my kitchen, which is quite messy but much more convenient. Since it's such a small object, having 80-90 spools doesn't look like much so I plan to keep going--even if I don't use them all in my installation, they will make great glaze testers!

I'm very excited for the next project. I'm working on getting preliminary work done, such as testing different glaze colors, backgrounds, and levels of dryness, as well as finding willing participants--which has been much easier than I had originally thought, it's amazing what people will do for the sake of art.

After sketching some ideas down, a fellow classmate suggested trying different colored backgrounds, further enhancing "duality." Tomorrow begins colored clay and experimenting. I will be using myself as a test subject to try out different colors and backgrounds. I'm interested to see how this project turns out! 

Going into week #6

Things are starting to pick up! The units/modules project is coming to a close and the next project already has many ideas rolling around in my head.

 

The spools have been coming along nicely. I still haven't gotten the hang of closing the spouts up, but I've been able to make the hole much smaller so hopefully it will be less visible. As of today, I have 52 spools--I would like to make as close to 100 as I can, although I probably won't have all of them displayed in the installation.

Throwing on the wheel, on the other hand, has not been so successful. It has been so much more difficult than I had expected, but I'm willing to stick with the challenge. I was able to make a form for the first time this week--one that did not fly off the wheel or get crushed by my hands. I need much much much more practice!

Contiuation of units.

Progress seems to be coming sloowly. I'm completely new to making slip molds so it's been hard to make consistent spools of thread. I've made 20 spools so far, I'm hoping to double that before thursday. I'm still unsure of the final presentation. Whether to glaze them or leave them unglazed.

Units/Modules

For the next project I was very interested in doing an installation piece, having my units hanging from the ceiling, whether with something clear or something visible. For my mold, I'll be using empty spools of thread. While the minimum amount of units is ten, I would like to make many, many more (time permitting). I'm still unsure about how I want to present them, fired or unfired. I want to see how the first couple molds turn about before I proceed with that decision.

Final Project.

I loved how this project turned out. I'm definitely happy with the decision to go with photographs instead of video footage. I want to explore this type of work more during this semester, possibly re-doing this project to fix some technical issues and experiment with different lighting. I'm excited to see where this semester takes my work!

A change in direction.

After some experiments with my previous idea of the verb "to catch" I decided to take a different approach. The clay did not splatter as I was hoping, but rather just came off in chunks--most of it falling to the ground rather than sticking to my skin or clothes.

When I washed off the clay from my hands and legs, I was interested in how the clay came off as well as the way the water interacted with the clay on my skin. All this led me to a different verb, to cleanse. 

The initial color was alot shinier than I expected, so I decided to play around with different levels of dryness and I loved how the clay dried and started to crack. For my final pictures I want to have the clay almost completely dry and starting to crumble off.

Instead of using a hose for the second experiment, I used a bowl full of water which did not work as well as I thought it would. Either the clay wasn't dry enough or it was just too thick to be washed off with water. I'm going to try this again, but let the clay dry all the way until it starts to flake off and then start to wash it off. 

Verb project.

To catch.

I'm super excited about this project, but there is still so much to think about. I've decided to do both video and photo documentation of the process--which one I will use for the final critique is still to be decided.

Instead of the single individual catching a ball of clay, I took into consideration fellow classmates suggestions and thought that a game of catch between two people would be easier to document and be much more effective than if it was just me catching the clay.

I'm still rolling ideas around in my head. I need to think more about what I want my project to portray and imply. Tomorrow is the big test day! I'm going to try different sizes of clay, colors of shirts, and different materials to cover the participants faces.  Pictures to follow!