Sgraffito tile

For this assignment, we were given squares of clay that had a black glaze on it, then using the carving tools we carved away the black to make an image. My creation was a road at night, with the moon shining bright. I made it by carving into the clay with carving tools until I made an image in white.

The elements I used were line since there are many basic lines in the image, space because the road goes off into the distance and gives an illusion of distance, and texture because of the grass, road, and the moon, and the difference between them. The principals I used are contrast because I have both black and white, balance because there are equal amounts of black and white, and pattern to create texture. The work is arranged to be simple but detailed. Originally, the moon was much larger, but while carving I thought the size looked perfect so I didn't make it the full size. I also was originally going to color the dashes in the road, but Mr Andreson suggested leaving them black, and that looked better.

Last year and especially last summer I did a lot of driving from place to place. It was always somewhat beautiful to be in the car and see the road in front, the trees along the sides, and the moon and the stars above. This carving was inspired by driving for hours at night. It is also somewhat inspired by the album "Infinity on High" by Fall out boy, which sports a moon on the cover. I would listen to that album a lot while driving. I am proudest of how the moon turned out. Its nearly a perfect crescent. I struggled with the road and making it the right shade without messing up the dashes in the road. It turned out okay. If I could change anything I would make the road neater. There was also a small lump of clay in the middle of the image and I wish I could have gotten rid of it.