Spheres

In this assignment, my Ceramics One class and I were required to create hollow spheres of clay. One sphere would represent something from the man-made world and the other from the natural world. To make this, I started with a sizable chunk of white clay. From there, I molded the chuck of clay into a large solid sphere. I then began using a pinch technique to extend the sides of the clay outwards and upwards. Soon, the clay that was once a solid sphere was soon formed into a bowl-ish shape. I made two of these forms so that when attached would form a hollow sphere. Using the "scratch-scratch, water, attach" technique and with a lot a smoothing, the spheres imperfections dissipated into a believable circle. For my man-made sphere, I made a freckled red-head human face and for my natural I fashioned an underwater scene with seaweed, fish and a turtle. The glazes I used for the natural sphere include PC-20 Blue Rutile, Flame Orange underglaze and PC-29 Deep Olive Speckle. For my man-made sphere, I used Flame Orange and Red underglaze, PC-23 Indigo Float, and Peach underglaze.

It took me a while to figure out what exactly I wanted to do for my man-made project. I tried over and over again trying to form a piece that would be visually pleasing, however most of my ideas ended up failing. Eventually I had to take home the sphere to do more experimenting. Soon I decided, what better thing to do for something that is mad-made than the man himself. Finally, I had found an idea that with time I could make look good without getting frustrated. After a had carved and added to the sphere into a curly-haired man child, I was faced with the struggle of finding skin toned glazes. Eventually I settled for mixing some of my own underglazes (like I would paint) into a fair/light skinned color. I then went in with a blindingly strong Flame Orange underglaze for the hair and eyebrows. To complete the redhead look, I added a face full of freckles and misty blue eyes. The colors in my piece of art, I think, are what makes it stand out in an artistic sense. I love they way the deep blue eyes seem to be looking everywhere, and the way the intense hair color immediately grabs your eye, This man-child was actually inspired by one of my favorite book series when I was younger, The Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Basil by Wiley Miller. The boy in this book, I think, looks almost creepily similar to my clay boy.