My favorite project in ceramics this year was the historical coil pot. I really like how the glazing came out, and I am proud of the improvements I made in ceramics in order to be able to make it. For our first project, we made spheres out of pinch pots, and I struggled with making the pinch pots symmetrical. With this project, I had to make a pinch pot for the hippo's head , and I realized how much I have improved, I was able to make the pinch pot on my first try. I'm also really proud of how I glazed it, I needed to modernize the pot, and I wanted to use a more complicated glazing technique to achieve a modern look. I decided to glaze stripes around the entire pot, and it came out looking really good. While making this project, I learned that ceramics requires a lot of practice because I never would have been able to make the hippo come out as good as it did if I had tried it in the beginning of the year.
2. How has taking this class changed the way you think about ceramics? This could include your own art-making, how you appreciate art, and/or how you might look differently at art in the world around you.
Before taking this class, I thought ceramics would be a lot more abstract. I didn't realize there were lots of complicated techniques to make different styles of pots and sculptures. I also didn't realize that there is such a wide variety of glazes, and lots of complicated glazing techniques. Before taking this class, I thought that ceramics would be a lot of the same thing every day. I really liked how each of our projects was something new, and different that we could learn and improve at. Now I understand that ceramics is a lot more complicated than I thought before taking this class.
3. What recommendations would you make for ways that the class could be improved (please don’t worry about hurting my feelings- artists learn from, and expect, constructive criticism).
I wish that we had been able to use the spinning wheels to make pots, I think that would have been a lot of fun. Also, I wish we had a little more time on some of the slab projects. I think I would have gotten a lot better at making mugs, and plates if I had a little more time to practice with slabs. I also really enjoyed the artist inspired project. I think it would have been fun to do another part with that project, maybe making one functional item and one sculpture. Overall, I really liked all of our projects, I liked how we usually started by learning a new technique, and then learned how to use that technique for a project.