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.