Describe your piece and your thoughts behind it.
My piece is supposed to look like a "wave of schoolwork" and if I were describe my piece I would describe it as a wave of paper. I taped around 56 papers together to form a paper wave. I originally thought I would make a paper crane but I wasn't able to get the paper to fold properly so I switched my idea halfway through. The thought behind my piece was that it was a wave of schoolwork that is rocking the tiny red boat which symbolizes me. Did it turn out how you first planned or did the idea change as you worked on it? Like I already mentioned I originally was gonna do a giant origami crane but since I wasn't able to fold it I switched ideas as I worked on it. What made you choose to do a piece like that? Honestly the abundance of schoolwork that I would have probably thrown away from this year and the fact that school-wise this year was not going great for me(mentally) and I wanted to make a statement. I also thought that a giant origami crane would look cool and even though its not a crane I still think it turned out well. Does your piece have a deep meaning? If so, what is it? If not, what feeling does your work evoke? My piece at least to me has a deep meaning of the way I felt like I was drowning in school work and that was causing me to become stressed and anxious. The red boat symbolizes me in a giant schoolwork ocean almost drowning because of the abundance. It also symbolizes to me the almost hopelessness I felt sometimes and that I was just surrounded by schoolwork for miles and miles and couldn't see anywhere to relax and take a break. I feel like that was mostly my fault, I was having trouble keeping up because I kept procrastinating which led me to feel like that. My pieces were all based on old sketches and ideas that I didn't complete or choose to do. All of these pieces have a hole or a place for me to insert a wire so that they can function as an ornament. A lot of my pieces if not all feature line work and patterns. My process for making these pieces was first choosing which design I wanted to incorporate then I would flatten at or mold clay to match the design. If I had more time I would have fired them and glazed them in the same color scheme.
My pieces use lines to convey different patterns and designs. I carved certain lines deeper than others to differentiate designs and lines. I used form in my pieces by molding and carving out the clay to different shapes like a manta ray, manatee, dinosaur, or a circular ornament. Like I've already mentioned I carved certain lines deeper than others which also contributed to texture in different pieces. I also used texture in one of pieces that is a mini-pot meant to look like a snake. My plan and end result are extremely varied and my idea definitely changed over time. I wasn't really sure what to do with my choice project except for the fact that I wanted to make ornaments(which is why it took me so long to do this project) but then I was flipping through my sketch book for ideas/inspiration and I got inspired by old designs and decided to give them another chance. Which differs from my original idea of just doing Christmas or holiday ornaments. Yes and no, because in some pieces I was able to perfectly capture the inspiration from the sketch book and in other pieces you couldn't really tell that they were inspired after that sketch/thing in my sketchbook. For example, the jaguar head doesn't look anything like the sketch and the manatee looks exactly like the sketch. I also feel that not being able to glaze them also hurt the success of my pieces which would have looked more cohesive had I had the time to color coordinate them with glaze. My piece is based on ancient Mesoamerican art and sculpture as well as the NCMA piece titled "Dish with Lid". The feet and the tail are based on the ancient American's interpretation of a jaguar. I also used many shapes and patterns inspired by ancient Americans like lots of rectangles and squares as wells as lot of straight lines. On each side of the tripod mug I put two giant squares made up of these previously mentioned patterns as well as one that goes across the top. In the center of the tripod mug I put a monster/jaguar/dragon(?) made up of these ancient American patterns and lines.
My process for making this piece was first flatting out and manipulating a piece of clay until it was the right size, shape, length, and width. Then it was carving out my design as well as removing the extra clay. Then I shaped it into a tripod mug and added extra clay if needed. Next I did touch ups as well as add the tail and feet. Then after I fired it I glazed it clear in the inside of the mug and glazed it in many colors in the shapes on the outside of the mug, leaving the empty space untouched in order to create an "ancient stone" effect. Finally, I fired it for the last time and it was done. My piece was inspired by the NCMA piece in many ways but in most particular the monster/creature in the middle and the shapes and colors around it. For example, the piece "Dish with Lid" which my piece is inspired from has a creature on the middle as well as two large squares on the sides which are apparent in my piece too. My piece also takes inspiration from shapes in "Dish with Lid" mostly the squares. I feel like my piece was mostly successful because I feel like if you looked at it you could tell that it was inspired by "Dish with Lid". But, I say mostly because as the piece progressed I felt like it got worse especially the design. What I mean by this is that there are many cracks, holes, and unevenness throughout the piece which is due to a lack of foresight. That is why I added extra clay to the piece before molding it into a tripod mug because I was trying to protect the design from being distorted. Like if you look at the second picture in the gallery versus the last ones or even the middle ones you can tell that overtime the design got distorted and lost its cleanness. This piece is meant to represent my family and our new beginnings of moving to a new house. There are three flowers on the dead branch which represent me, my mom, and my brother. The newly bloomed dandelions being on the dead branch represent the new beginnings of my family moving into our new house and replacing our old "dead" one which we outgrew. The materials I used for this project are flowers(dandelions), a dead branch from my tomato plant, and grass/wire to sow it together. Due to the shortage in materials(and options) I wasn't able to construct more of this piece to transform a larger part of my backyard into land art. I love land art I think that it is a great way to construct a tasteful piece without consuming materials that are harmful for the environment. By constructing pieces from the land you don't have to worry able if the materials you are using for you piece are damaging to the environment or if they are harvested in an damaging way to people or the world. What unit did you learn the most from during the class? and explain why you selected it and what you learned.
I think I learned most from the Sgraffito unit this class. Sgraffito is defined as a pottery technique in which you apply layers of colors(underglaze) to leather hard pottery and then you scratch off parts of those layers to create contrasting images, patterns, and textures by revealing the clay underneath. I selected this unit because it taught me a lot of interesting and useful skills like how to make plates or other kitchenware by molding the clay around it and it taught me how to use sgraffito to make my creations look more interesting. From this unit I also learned how to take an image on my sketchbook or paper and convert it onto a pottery piece by using markers or pressing it on with a pencil. I will definitely use sgraffito in the future to help distinguish my pottery and to add more depth and lines to my pieces.
For my sgraffito project I choose to do a design of an axolotl. To start off the piece I flattened a piece of clay and put it on a plate to get the shape I wanted for the plate. Then I carved out the design I wanted and then I will fire it.
I designed my piece to sit exactly in the center of the plate to form a sort of circle. I used line by edging out details like the hands and the feet to look more realistic. I used space by having the axolotl cover the center of the plate and letting the rest of the plate be blank to highlight the axolotl. For contrast I fully carved out the eye making it all white to contrast with the grey head and body. Interpret: How did you balance the black and white sections of the piece? Why did you pick the imagery you did? I balanced out the black and white sections of the piece by adding white to things I wanted to highlight and black to things I wanted to say in the background. I chose this imagery because I thought that it would look nice with the flow of the plate in the middle. Judge: Is your pieces successful? Why or why not? What are you thoughts on the project and your piece in particular? Personally I don't think that this piece was successful, because I feel like I should have made it a lot more simplistic so it was easier to carve out and I could fully carve out stuff like the arms or legs without losing detail. But overall I really like this project and I think that it is so cool to make your own plates and other dinnerware yourself. I don't really like my piece at the moment so I was considering starting over or maybe adding to the piece as is. Describe:
My piece is based on a sci-fi space helmet and is made out of cardboard and plastic. It contains a plastic screen as the visor and I have taped on extra pieces of cardboard to add depth and make it look more like a helmet you could wear. Analyze: I would say that the piece is pretty cohesive with the exception of the top bit which maybe should be cut evenly but other than that the piece is pretty cohesive and goes together. Interpret: The overall mood of my piece would probably be adventurous or imaginative just because of the overall sci-fi theme of the helmet. Judge: I do not feel that my piece was successful, because I had an idea of how I wanted it to look but I could never get it to look as 3D and more like an actual space helmet. The cardboard just wasn't as bendable as I thought it would be and making complex shapes with carboard is also very difficult. For my animal head piece I chose to make the head of an orca. To make this piece I first started with two pinch pots and flipped one over and put it on top of the other to form a hollowed out shape for the head. I then smoothed and shaped the piece and started drawing lines to where I wanted the mouth and eyes. Next I cut out the mouth and added a tongue and teeth. Finally, I added the eyes and the blowhole on the back of the head. I used texture in my piece by adding lines and scratches on the tongue, mouth, and eyes of the whale to make it look more realistic. Since orcas usually have glossy and wet skin I also decided to use glaze on the outside of the whale and paint on the inside so that it will contrast and the outside will look more glossy and wet like it has just been in water. I picked an orca because I wanted to get out of my comfort zone and try something new. I also really like orcas they are definitely in my top 10 favorite animals. In my opinion, I think that my piece was partially successful in a sense that it looks like an orca but personally I think I could have done better. I really liked this project because I liked learning how to do animal heads and sculptures which will definitely help me in the future if I decide to do another animal piece. Like I already stated I felt like I could have pushed this piece more by possibly making the head smaller and longer so that I could add more parts like the fin or it's flippers. |
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June 2021
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