Ceramics II

A Class Reflection:

Overall I would say my experience in Ceramics II was successful because I always enjoyed class and looked forward to it, and it also inspired me to continue my ceramics journey with an independent study! I would also say that this semester was a success for me because I thoroughly enjoyed some of the things that I made unlike in Ceramics I when I was just so frustrated and worried about perfection. I was also successful because I was allowed to have more artistic liberty with my projects, as well as how I constructed them, this was beneficial for me because I already knew the techniques and could use my own discretion to choose a technique to build my piece. The fact that I could choose my own technique unlike in ceramics I was helpful for me because I could strictly design my project by myself, not think of it and design it based on what method I was going to have to use. 

The project that challenged me the most was definitely the eccentric teapot project because I had many setbacks. My first setback was that I decided to do the most painstaking slowest way of adding texture, individually stippling every single dot across the entire body of the teapot. It took so long and went so slow that it was really discouraging but I ended up really loving the texture so I pushed through. My next setback also involved the texture and that was because the glaze bubbled over many of the dots and then once it was fired it was super patchy and looked awful so I had to glaze and fire it again. My last major setback with this teapot was that the body was too dry, and the handle was too wet when I attached them so the handle broke and looked bad and I was just not happy with it. This project was definitely the most challenging simply because of how many things went wrong. I had to persevere to finish it because the setbacks caused me to lose a lot of motivation. Still, I got through it and learned many valuable lessons about handles, and glazing over odd textures that I could use in my projects afterward and in my future. 

Something that really worked for me was how most of the class was independent work time with minimal instruction unless you asked for it. This worked for me because I love figuring out things on my own as I think it helps me learn better and problem-solve. Something that also worked for me was how the only guidelines for the project were aesthetic or visual and not technical, there wasn't a specific technique we had to use for any project which I think helped my creativity because I didn't have to design my project around my technique. Overall there's nothing I would change, I would definitely take this class again if I could as I really enjoyed it and it felt like a valuable use of my time.