Artist inspired

The assignment was to create something using inspiration from other ceramicists. I chose to create a mug, after looking at Sanam Emami's artwork. Her mugs are intriguing and show a cool composition of repeating shapes and patterns. The subject of my creation is a mug, whose base is smaller at the bottom then gets wider as it opens. It also shows multiple diamonds in a repeating pattern. I made this mug by first sketching out how I wanted it to look, then I used coils to create the mug. Mr. Andreson used a machine that sped up the coil making process and gave equally sized coils. I then used these coils to make the mug and connecting them using the scratchy tool then smoothing them together. I also added a handle by pulling it and twisting it at the end. lastly I glazed it by tracing diamonds onto the mug then using tourmaline for the diamonds and blue rutle for the rest of the mug.

In my artwork, I tried to show shape by cutting out a diamond with construction paper then using that to trace diamonds onto the mug. I used two glazes to create the diamonds. I like how this artist used shapes, so I got inspiration from that and applied that in my work. My project evolved over the course of this project because at first, I was rolling my own coils which did not work out. They were too thin and uneven, so when Mr. A used that machine it helped me a lot. Also I kept debating on what glazes to use and how good they would look together. In the end they turned out not as well as I wanted.

The meaning behind my artwork was to show how inspiration from other artists can be used in my work. This ceramicist creates many mugs, plates, bowls, flower vases, but I was really drawn to her mugs and how she uses shapes in a repeating pattern. I also wanted to make a mug for Liz because it was recently her birthday, so I wanted to make something she would enjoy and use. This relates to my life because I'm creating something using previous methods that I learned, like the coil method, as well as creating something of my own based off of other art pieces. I’m proud of how the shape of the mug came out because I thought it was going to look bad, due to the fact that it was not completely like the picture, but it ended up looking good in the end. I struggled with rolling coils because they were not all the same lengths and some were thinner than others. I overcame this struggle because I was able to use a machine where all the coils were the same thickness, which made my mug much more even. I think my artwork could be stronger next time by adding more layers of glaze. It looks super transparent, so next time I would make sure to add more thick layers.