Week 8 Spring 2021

So this past week I really haven’t made anything because I’ve been playing catch up with my online homework and my printmaking stuff do to focusing on the ceramic show. I did have my BFA critique this past week and I think it went really well it would be nice to talk to Syd about it. But so far I’ve filled out a new planner with all the classes I’m taking in the summer and fall and doing my sexual harassment class homework. Things that need to be done this week include make of come 10 clay for the wood fire which I have been researching and also filling out my graduation application for next spring.

Week 7 Spring 2021

This week we set up our show for house guest. I’m sooooo excited to be finished and installed but I’m a little sad it is over. This week I finally problem solved out all the issues I was having with my screen print and was able to get them all finished. This print is the biggest screen print I’ve done so far it’s 20 x 21 inches. Also I drew up schematics for the ball jointed fish I want to make. I’ve got 3 different sizes. I’m not sure I’ll do all 3 but I’ll at least do 2 different sizes.

Week 6 Spring 2021

This past week I finished painting the last of my 250ish tiles for our show. Also got them in the kiln to be fired to come 6. They have no glazes on them but the slips and underglaze will be nice and vibrant. I also made my three stencils for my print making class and can’t wait to start exposing screens and printing. This week I’ll be sanding down my boards, exposing screens and print onto my boards for the show. Also unload my kiln and start assembling my pieces so they are ready to be installed hopefully by Monday.

Week 3 Spring 2021

So this week I worked on making tiles for our Dirtbags show. I have all sizes of squares and rectangles as well as thickness. I’ve got around 10 boards full so we should be at the like 80ish mark. I’m gonna try and make a ton more tomorrow and hopefully that uses up the last bit of clay I’ve been using for the start of the semester. I also worked on my long necked bottles. I sheerformed them and smoothed them out. There are four of them. I’m looking to add lots of elements post firing. In printmaking I made swatches and draw downs of the color pallet I’m using for my reductive screen print.

Week 2 Spring 2021

My recipes for conceptual clay had to build a solid structure the sculpt it reductivly for like 2 hours. At the end I had to cut my sculpted structure into 7 pieces and rebuild the structure in different ways. This had me think about how preexisting structure can be repurposed and create newer structures.

Week 1 Spring 2021

So this week I started working on sketches for our group Dirbags show. Not sure where they are going but I’ll definitely be updating throughout the semester. I also started working on a pattern for my printmaking class. It will be a series of stencils that I’ll print to make the pattern. It’s an easy printing process to do at home. Last but not least this week we made totems.

Totems: So these totems are a bunch of small long necked bottles. These represent my comfort zone. I’m comfortable hand building with clay and this bottle shape is rather easy to duplicate and repeat over and over just like the coil building method I like so much. I feel like in the past year despite the optimism I was trying to keep, 2020 kind of beat me down quite a bit. I’ve grown a lot in the last year but I do find heading into this semester I feel myself reverting back to my comfort zone. I don’t feel as experimental as usual and I feel less ambitious. I’m finding comfort in returning to forms that are repetitive and rhythmic in process. I’ve placed these by a fire place because with the pressures of COVID and my shortened semesters I feel the fire place symbolizes that pressure. As the fire place is used the heat will dry and crack my bottles and over time reveal the insides of the bottles. I’m hoping like the bottles that as the semester and 2021 goes on a little heat will be applied to my comfort zone and it will make me have to reveal myself again and step out of my bottles (comfort zone).

Week 12 Fall 2020

This week is the last week before finals. I loaded my kiln this week and I hoped nothing exploded. I also unloaded it this week and surprise surprise nothing exploded. The front half of the face of one of my pieces did but it was easy to epoxy back together. Also here is one of my pieces done. She is missing here fish but she is finished and ready to go for critique.

Week 11 Fall 2020

I don’t have a lot of photos this week because everything is still drying out and still needs to be fired. The photo I did share is the ear tubes I’m working on. They have underglaze on them right now. I’m hoping to fire them have more underglaze decoration and also glazes. My figures will be painted after they are bisqued. I still have to do some intaglio prints sometime this week and I have to start making working for the sale at the end of the month as well as work for our wood fire in February of 2021.

Week 10 Fall 2020

So this week I’m waiting on my projects to dry a little bit more so they can be fired. My fish for my second project is ready to be bisqued. I can’t wait to see how the glaze flows into the crevices and melts. It will have fabric fins. I also threw a little this week so I could have some thrown things for our sale. I’m also gonna slab build as well as slip cast for the sale. I also was playing around with patterns for my pots and thought I would share this one. I like it but not sure what it would look good on. Hoping to get all my projects bisqued this week so I can focus on glazing all of next week.

Week 9 Fall 2020

So this week we I had my BFA critique. It was technically my first BFA critique sense joining the program since my springs BFA critique got cancelled due to COVID. There were some proportional issues with my figure which was to be expected. We all seemed to agree that focusing in on certain body parts or sections would be better than trying to due a whole figure so I can practice getting better at proportions. Everyone seemed to like my prints and wanted to seem them in clay. I also had a fabric piece that everyone seemed to like but they wanted to see how I could incorporate it better with my ceramics. Also this week I helped Sam load her cone 6 soda kiln and learned quite a bit in the process. She’s gonna do another one later this semester so I can’t wait to be able to put some stuff in there.