Sgraffito Clay Animal

This assignment was to create an animal out of clay using pinch pots and slabs, once it is dry you have to glaze it and then scratch a design into it. The subject of my creation is simply a panda with Japanese inspired flowers in the areas that are supposed to be white on a panda. My work was made by first making a pinch pot and placing another pinch pot on top of that connecting them together using a coil. That represented the body. I then went in and used slabs to create the arms and legs. I made the arms and legs quite large, since pandas are big, so the head would've looked too short. So I added another pinch pot to the top of the body, using a coil to attach it, which represented the pandas head. I later went in adding the details such as the nose, tail and ears, and then let it dry. After it was dry I put 3 coats of black underglaze, letting the glaze dry between each coat. I then found a design of a Japanese flower in a design book. I was inspired and scratched similar flowers into my panda.

I chose to create this specific artwork because I love pandas, I find them so fascinating. They are also endangered so I wanted to bring attention to the panda. It’s arranged by him sitting down with his two legs outward and his front arms resting in his front. How my project evolved was at first his neck/head was too short and didn't look correct compared to his arms. So I went in and added a new head. I revised my artwork even more by fixing the arms as well. This was because the arms didn't connect like real joints would on arms, the arms were too short. So, I went back in and added to the arms in order for them to match the body. I added to the back of the arms so the back of the old arms became the elbows of the panda.

The meaning behind my artwork is a panda minding his own business with his natural beauty. How my artwork relates to my life is because I love animals, especially pandas. I also love flowers, and anything related to nature so I added a flower design. What I'm most proud of in my artwork is how I missed a day and still managed to be patient and come back to work on my project even more, making it my best. I struggled with making him look like a panda because his body parts were off at first and he even looked like a koala at one point. But I overcome these struggles by persevering and adding onto the parts that looked uneven. My artwork could be stronger if I took more time adding even smaller details into the white and making my panda look like he had some sort of texture to his fur amongst the designs.