7.5in tall - 3in wide, Ceramic Clay, Glaze, 2021

I was inspired by my stepmother’s mother. Her favorite animal was giraffes and her nickname was “Missy”. So I thought in memory of her and made her, her favorite animal and I would give it to my stepmom as a gift. I wanted to have more giraffes to appreciate the memory of Missy.

The process is easy but time-consuming. First, I made a slab vase with a flat bottom. Second, I made a small slab to represent the face of the giraffe. Third, I created a small circle with a flat top and two little holes on the top to represent the nose. Fourth, I created the little horns that sit on a giraffe's head. Then, I carved out a space for the eyes and I also carved out space for the brown spots on the giraffe's fur. Finally, I spent a good few days glazing the whole thing.

I don’t want the audience to think of my vase as just an animal. I want my audience to think of the giraffe as good luck, good omens, and I want them to remember that my vase is a representation of appreciation of the memory of a loved one.

The hardest part to do on my project was trying to make everything look as smooth as I possibly could. I figured out that I don’t need to cut out so much clay and just use a flat, rounded tool to smooth out really flat.

The type of style I have created in my art piece is surreal. My personal style is kind of funky and not completely even.

I love how pretty the yellow turned out and I also loved the brown spots even though some of them are a little chipped.

15in tall - 6.5in wide, Ceramic Clay, 2021

I was inspired by my stepmother’s mother. Her favorite animal was giraffes and I wanted to create something that looked exactly like a giraffe as best as I could. So I thought about making another giraffe as a gift to my stepmother. I knew my stepmother would love my previous ceramic giraffe, and she found the giraffe that I made to be very sweet.

I process of making this giraffe was very time-consuming. First, I taped soda cans and bottles together to make the body of the giraffe, then I covered the whole thing in tape so the clay wouldn't stick to the cans and bottles. Second, I started rolling out slabs of clay and started working from the base of the giraffe, up. Third, I had to stop working on the giraffe for a few class periods to mold leftover clay from my previous project into something. But after that, I rushed to at least finish covering the whole thing in clay and let it dry and harden. Fourth, after a few days of hardening, I took all of the soda cans, bottles, and tape out of the clay and then had my teacher mold the head back on and made two ears, two antlers, the two eyes, and carving a mouth. Fifth, I never got to the glazing my giraffe.

I want my audience to appreciate the art o animals more than anything. I also want my audience to understand that the smallest gifts can easily warm the hearts of others.

The hardest part of my project was putting the head back on the body when I was taking the cans and bottles out of the clay. In order to put the head back on the body, I had to stop adding water and let the head dry while it's attached to the body.

The type of style I used on my art piece is surreal. My personal style for anything is somewhat funky and not completely even.

I loved how the ears turned out because I find them to be very cute.

The reason why it isn't glazed is that I didn't have enough time to actually start glazing