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!