Ceramic Research

Glazes Used: Green, blue, and white underglazes with clear top glaze 

For this project, we were assigned to find two ceramic artists and get inspiration from both of their styles to make something of our own. The artists I chose were Mark Arnold and Ian Bassett. Arnold makes mostly practical items such as vases and bowls but make the outsides look like patchwork which is where I got the idea to do something similar, I decided to carve squares into the outside of my cups to resemble the patchwork. And I incorporated Bassett's style by making practical hand-help cups. He has made a series of many small cups and other day-to-day objects, but what really stood out to me about his work was how each cup specifically, was different. Whether that be from the height, the with, or the design on that outside, which is why I made my cups slightly different heights and made the patchwork on the outside unique for each cup in the series.

I incorporated Mark Arnold's use of patchwork in his work and Ian Bassett's simplistic design of handheld cups but also made the outside 'non-traditinal' as he does in his work. Originally I was going to make the cups and then add cut-out squares to make the patchwork but I was worried about how they would sit and that the outside would be too bulky and feel unnatural to hold. Instead, I opted to construct the cups first and then carve the square into the cup itself. I think doing this allowed the cups to feel and look more natural while viewing and holding. And finally, I painted the squares alternating colors because Arnold has natural influences in his work and uses light colors to portray the softness of nature, so I made sure to mix the green and blue with white to make them lighter.

This project relates to my life because going into ceramics class I wanted to make things that I would use in my day-to-day life which is something that both Bassett, Arnold, and I have in common. So when I say Bassett's practical works I knew I wanted to make a series of cups like he did and incorporate Arnold's unique design on the outside. At first, I struggled with carving into the cup, the carvings looked sloppy and the scraps of clay kept sticking to the clay but I overcame this by looking for a different tool. I found an actual carving tool that worked much better than the wooden tool I had been using. I am proudest of the construction of the cups, I made sure to make them the same width but with different heights and I am happy with how they turned out. If I were to change something about my work I would try and smooth out the insides of the cups a bit more. Due to the small sizes of the cups themselves, I had a hard time smoothing them out with my hand, but I think the clear glaze really helped smooth the insides out a bit more.