Ceramics I

At the beginning of the school year I didn't know what to expect in ceramics, I had heard rumors that it was a fun class and I should definitely take it. These rumors ended up being very true, I had a great experience in this class. I looked forward going to ceramics every maroon day. I learned many different clay techniques, like (Pinch Pots, Coil Pot, Slab Project) that allowed me to make nice pieces of art. My favorite project was the slab project because I feel like the things I made using slabs were my best pieces in this art class. For example, my favorite thing I made was a big wave-like blue slab mug that had a nice handle on the side. I like this because it's something that I will use a lot, also it was simple to make, but looks well done. I also like the other slab projects I made like the other mugs and the platters I created. From this project I can conclude that this method was fun and easy which allowed me to make things fast. Also this method gave me a variety of thicknesses that I used for different things. I learned that just by making a thin even sheet of clay I can create many different things like bowls, plates, mugs, (etc).

I have always been interested in clay, so when I heard about ceramics I already knew it would be a fun class to take in the future. It actually turned out to be more difficult than I thought, by glazing and actually constructing things, although that made it more fun. After taking this class I now look at different clay pieces differently. I notice how hard it actually is to make clay sculptures and appreciate the hard work professional ceramicist put into their artwork. It's fun to see how the world of ceramics has evolved over hundreds of years, by looking back on old pieces of ceramic art to more modern pieces of ceramic art. In the art that surrounds me I now notice glazes on other pottery and see if I could potentially match them up to something in the class. I think as this class went on I grew as a ceramicist by using more glazes and layer them to get cool glaze colors and patterns. It takes time to develop the skill of ceramic art, and is truly beautiful.

I like how this class was set up and it was fun to be able to experiment with clay. By assigning projects while still allowing kids the opportunity to be free with their art, just added to reasons why this class was so much fun. If there were something that I would want to change about this class it would probably be to remind kids to take in process photos more often. I struggled with this towards the end of the class, because I had less of a reminder to take photos. Other than that I think this class was very open to what we could do in our projects and you gave good instructions on how to do things. I also liked how you worked one on one with students if they needed help.