Ceramics

I thought I’d show what I made in my studio classes. Starting with Ceramics, I finally finished my stinkin’ carousel box. I thought I was going to die before I finished this thing, it just seemed to take forever. The assignment was to make a reliquary box of sorts. Reliquary boxes are found in old medieval churches- they are fancy boxes that house parts of Saints. Or supposedly house parts of Saints. You can Google reliquary boxes to see what I’m referring to- some are interesting, others are kindof grotesque. The goal here was not to make a box that housed a body part, but a clay box that houses a personal object or ephemera of sorts. I thought about making an antique camera that housed something of mine that related to photography (roll of film, mini Polaroid pics, etc) but wound up making a carousel box that houses a few ride tickets left from times I went to the fair.

Most other people made simpler boxes that had right angles- my box was a hexagon so that was more complicated. They’re made with slabs of clay that you roll in what looks like a large play-doh machine. You were also supposed to add clay and also carve places away on your box. Most people carved pretty simple stuff- I thought it was a good idea to have to carve 6 horses. That took forever. Most other people didn’t throw parts of their box but I threw the inner part that holds the tickets on the wheel- apparently I can throw more complicated pieces but simpler ones (cylinders and bowls) elude me. I based the concept of the inner piece on carnival glass, the glass pieces that people won at fairs back in the day.

We finished the boxes using an iron oxide finish which turns dark when it’s fired. You were supposed to wipe it away so that it stayed in the crevices of your piece and I didn’t really know what I was doing or how it would turn out so it’s pretty dark. Other people’s turned out a terracotta color with darker crevices. Part of me kindof wishes the finish had turned out a little better.

I don’t know what I’ll do with it now- I thought it could be cool but I don’t care that much about it. It kinda looks like a cookie jar, though the finish is not food safe. So it takes up space in our mobile with my other art projects that I don’t know what to do with. Sometimes it’s good that your teacher wants you to make something that you’d never make so that you can grow as an artist, but most of the time it stinks and you hate your project afterwards. That’s the problem with art school- when you’re out in the real world as an artist, you’re making your own original art…not fulfilling an assignment. Unless you’re a graphic designer or something working to please a client.

For my final project, there were several options and you had to pick two. I wound up making two sculptures because I really didn’t want to have to throw anything. One sculpture was supposed to be a “natural form” and the other was to be political in some way. I had to make these fast, too- you had to have stuff done and dry for the kiln a week before finals, which totally stunk. So I had to get all this stuff done in time so that it could dry slowly well before it was time for the kiln. For the natural item, I made a tree stump from coil building, it went pretty fast. I picked that form because then it wouldn’t matter if it was wonky or not smooth- it’s a stump! I don’t know what I’ll do with it either. It’s open on top but would probably look stupid with flowers in it.

For the “political” sculpture, I decided not to make a large item but a bunch of smaller sculpted items that were “environmental”. It took a lot of time. I decided to make a bunch of animals and natural items out of clay, paint them white, and weave them together to show that we are all connected on this earth. There’s flowers, an acorn, a dolphin, a bee, a bird nest, bird shapes, butterflies, a tree, leaves and whatnot. I made a fetus to represent humans, which is not meant to be a statement on abortion but instead showing how fragile we humans are. If I had made a clay man or woman it just would have looked like a Barbie doll or the figure on a restroom sign, so I opted for something different.

I like the concept of this piece better than how it turned out. In a perfect word I’d be able to do it exactly how I wanted- like use porcelain instead of heavy stoneware clay. And I’d have all the time I wanted to carve the pieces instead of being rushed. I did like how my bee turned out. This sculpture will probably get cut apart for pieces, I think I want to repaint my bee to look like a real bee.

I’m not showing a picture of the bowls and cylinders I threw on the wheel, they’re pretty bad. I couldn’t get them as big as I was supposed to and they’re just ugly lumps of clay. I had a hard time with the heavy clay and my really bad wrists. I hurt for weeks after we started throwing. And I didn’t like the use of colored slips/clear glaze on the bowls, I would have rather been allowed to use the real glazes. We were supposed to make designs on the bowls but you can’t even tell what I did. I made the mistake of bringing them all home to show Mom, I wasn’t planning on keeping them all and she was apprehensive about me throwing them out. She kept my leftover pieces from my woven sculpture too, even though I wanted to throw them out- they’re not great. But I’m still getting rid of some of the thrown stuff. I have enough things I like, why keep things I don’t? I have plenty of things already that show my growth as an artist over the years. I imagine shooting them like clay pigeons in the air. BANG!

I have two very small cylinders (3” high) on my dresser, they house my stuff. Don’t get me wrong, I like what other people can do on the wheel (like Jennifer Allen) and I wish I was better at it. I don’t hate all thrown pottery or anything. I have more patience for handbuilding with clay.

There was a reason I was putting of this class- ceramics really isn’t my thing. And it went about how I expected- not great but not terrible. Still not really my thing but it’s nice to know how to handbuild sculptures if I need to down the road. I don’t know what I’ll do if I have to teach kids how to throw on the wheel!

Pins

So I saw this cute shirt at Wal-Mart and the upcoming conference at Kirtland was a good excuse to splurge. However, I didn’t like the band at the bottom of the shirt- who on earth thinks those are flattering? I didn’t want to look preggo, so I took some scissors and snipped it off…the beauty of knit T-shirt material is that it doesn’t unravel. I could have hemmed it, but I was lazy and it looked fine.

Ugh. I'm not preggo, really!

 That's better.

So what to do with the band? It donned on me that I could make rosette pins out of the extra fabric. It was pretty easy and fast to do. I bought some inexpensive lengths of various black laces and some black tulle to mix in.

I cut strips of the pink in various widths and then did a running stitch along one long edge. You then gather it tightly and knot it to create a rosette donut of sorts. I did the same with the lace and then played around with the layers until I liked what I saw.

I keep a variety of sizes of buttons that you cover around for such an occasion like this. I covered them with the pink material and then a lover of lace or tulle over that.

I also found some hot pink felt that was almost the exact shade of pink for the back. I hot glued all the layers together, starting with the largest “donut” and a circle of felt. I then glued the other layers on top and the button on top of it all. I then hotglued (I love the verbs I create) a pinback to the felt on the backside of the flower, thus creating a supercute pin with some 80’s influence.

For the dance, I took a strip of black tulle and used it for a belt on my flowy shirt. I wish the sleeves had been cut different so that I didn’t have to wear the black shirt underneath. It was a lot of contrast! Maybe someday when I have some time I can add some sleeves underneath the flounces so that it covers my arms better. I actually made three pins but using two looked better on my shirt- I guess I was a bit of an overachiever! I really like adapting clothes to my preferences. It was fun making these pins and I imagine more will be on the way!

Kirtland:Zion's Camp

What do you know, I AM alive! And doing stuff, too.

A week ago I spent the weekend in Kirtland, Ohio for their annual YSA conference, Zion’s Camp. I had a good time last year and knowing that John Bytheway would be there this year sealed the deal. My sister came with me (her first conference other than the ones we hosted) and our friend Miranda (her first YSA conference ever- she’s a graduating senior) drove with me. Kirtland is the nearest conference to us (besides our own!) being exactly 2 hours away. It’s not hard to get to, either, which is very nice for us chauffeurs. It’s also one of the largest in the area- last year there were probably 300 and this year there were nearly 400 in attendance!

The most family-friendly graffiti wall you'll ever see...and there's me!

There were games and whatnot going on when we got there, we had fun socializing and eating dinner. Later that evening, John Bytheway spoke and it was great. The conference’s theme was “Guided by the Light” and he spoke about being an example and shared some really wonderful stories that touched my heart.

I’ll paraphrase one of his stories. When the church wanted to preach in a certain part of Finland (after the Soviet Union fell, remember that kids?) they were denied. The leaders there were opposed to the church and were determined that the only church be the Church of Russia. They held a meeting to discuss the matter and there was a (non-member) reporter from Chicago there covering this meeting. So they turned to him and asked him about the Mormons- he was American after all. And he said that he knew of Mormons and that they were good, hardworking honest people-good families. He said that if they were going to let anybody in, it should be the Mormons. And so that area of Finland was opened because someone was a good example to this reporter and I’m sure they never knew the influence they had.

Choose the right, shine your light.

John Bytheway also spoke Saturday morning, both talks were great. And we had the pleasure of hearing from and meeting his wife, Kimberly. She is a really sweet, pleasant, kind person and a great example as well. It was cute to watch her while he spoke- you knew she had to have heard these stories a million times but she was watching him with a loving look on her face. Very sweet and a very good example of the kind of woman that us gals should aspire to be like.

Later on Saturday there were classes- they were fine. I attended one on creativity taught by a man that didn’t seem all that creative but hey. He did have a good suggestion- that we should each make a “creativity date” with ourselves. He meant that we should allot ourselves two hours a week to either do something that we like or we could use that time to learn something new that we’ve always wanted to do. I thought that was great because everyone should work on their talents and explore new ones. He also showed clips of President Uchtdorf’s talk on the subject, which still remains as one of my favorite addresses.

I attended a dating class (there weren’t many classes that appealed to me) which said the same stuff you hear all the time but the gal teaching was pretty funny. And some stuff was funny but not on purpose- like the suggestion that you and your date could go to the park and make balloon animals for children. I do that on dates all the time, don’t you?

The last class was supposed to be about leadership but didn’t get to that topic til the end- too much funny business up front. I did get a kick out of this list (of things that define success), can you guess which ones the boys suggested and which ones the girls did? Hint: the girls didn’t put “hot wife” on there. The (male) teacher also said that it takes approximately 15 years for a wife to train the jerkiness out of her guy. I think every girl got the same look on her face when he said that!

Hint: The girls anwers were in purple

Us girls wound up signing up to do service at the same nursing home as I went to last year- there were two to sign up for so it was a 50/50 shot ( I couldn’t remember the name of the place). So that was pretty déjà vu for me- playing bingo with seniors in a really hot historic house. And once again there were too many YSA and not enough seniors. And once again we got out early- not much to do and they had to eat dinner. It was fine, though.

The one senior was funny- she sat across from one of the young men and said “YOU’RE CUTE!” and then the other gal said “What?” and the gal had to repeat herself several times “I SAID HE’S CUTE!” before the other one heard. That boy was red by the time that was over and we all laughed.

We headed to the same ice cream place nearby, love their vintage interior. I so want an old school bumper car like theirs! Had my fave, birch beer (like root beer).

Had some free time and dinner and then it was time for the dance. It was fun, I was quite the social butterfly- I migrated around the room, dancing with a bunch of different circles. No one can say I need to “get out there more”. They had a swing dance competition that was fun to watch- some talented people out there who can do all that on the spur of the moment.

My shirt for the dance was very very hot pink. You’re not losing me in a crowd with this baby! I tweaked it for the dance, I’ll go into more detail on that in its own post. Sidenote: I also totally tweaked another shirt for the conference but didn’t wind up wearing it- too hot. Conferences are a great excuse for me to make or buy something new. It’s fun trying out new looks.

Sunday was great- having sacrament meeting in the Kirtland temple is pretty cool. Actually, it’s pretty hot in there but the experience is cool, ha ha. We had great speakers and testimonies. The choir was amazing- they sounded like angels. It’s pretty cool to sing “The Spirit of God” in there, it sounded amazing.

After sacrament meeting, we had a great catered lunch and then were turned loose to see the sites. We toured historic Kirtland with my friends from Harrisburg. It was very warm and very humid that day, I melted in my church clothes at the sites and Miranda was starting to get sick from the heat. Blech. Someday I need to see those places when it’s not miserably hot outside, I seem to associate church sites with misery because of the awful weather. It’s always great to see those places, though. I didn’t realize before coming to Kirtland just how much was done in such a short period of time and how much doctrine was revealed there.

Miranda and I after lunch...yum!

We made it back just in time for the evening devotional- I didn’t stay for it last year and had no idea that so many would stick around for it. I thought more would have gone home. There wasn’t room for us in the chapel so we got comfy chairs in the foyer and listened out there, darn it. Ha ha. The Cleveland mission president spoke and it was really great, I was glad we came back for it.

He chided his sister missionaries for thinking the elders were icky- “If they want to get married they need a better attitude.” But I’m on the sister missionaries side- they are icky. They’re supposed to be icky. They’re like little brothers. The Holy Ghost locks our hearts. Besides, I’m sure he doesn’t want a mess of hormones between his missionaries! I admit that it took me awhile to get out of that sister missionary nun thing and find that not all boys are icky.

He also reminded us that getting married is the next step after being a missionary. I was glad that he said that, for I always feel a bit guilty for ditching my YW to go to these things even though the Spirit tells me it’s ok to go. The girls usually don’t come to church (despite regular nagging and pleading) but I feel bad for counting on them not to be there. Anyhow, I felt that his comment was my answer that it’s okay to go to these activities. YW is very important but so is this endeavor.

Anyhow, us gals had a good time- Miranda is much more mature than her young years and she was fun to have with us this weekend. It was funny because there were boys that didn’t believe Miranda is only 17- she had to pull out her license to prove it! She’ll turn 18 this summer at BYU. She mostly came to hear John Bytheway.

My sister was so funny- she met a boy she liked and spent the whole conference taking pictures of him and with him. So funny to watch her be boy crazy! Alas, no such report for me for my Branch President, ha ha. But I still had a good time.