Artist Inspired

For this assignment we were tasked with searching for an artist that inspired us and making our own twist on a piece that they created that we liked or found particularly interesting. The artist I chose was Shikha Joshi who made a lot of practical items, some of which include a citrus juicer, a tea pot set, and a gravy bowl. This relates to my life because I like to be practical but also not at the same time. I like when things function and progress however it doesn’t have to be in a certain way or order. As long as it’s progressing in a forward direction that doesn’t really matter that much to me. Art has always been my escape from order and sequence because I allow myself to be flexible and problem solve whereas in other areas I like things to be specific and in the correct order.

To make this piece I used clay to make the actual piece as well as using a yogurt cup to help the bowl keep its shape as it was drying. This was important because it was so wet when I was working with it that it started to lose its shape and sort of squish into itself.

I started by making a pinch pot at the bottom of the bowl and making coil parts from there until I got the desired shape I was looking for. I did a coil for my handle as well which is not my strongest point but I tried my hardest and it was assisted by Mr. A :). This project evolved by changing its shape on the upper half of the bowl. The pouring of the gravy would definitely come out different in my bowl compared to reference one simply because of the shape. I had issues with cracking with the clay around the rim of the piece so we ended up cutting the cracked part off. This actually gave the bowl the more desired shape that the reference image had which I think was beneficial in the end. If I were to do this project again I would allow myself more time to let the clay dry so that it would hold its shape better without assistance.