Clay

Reflection

Showing the beauty of the whale was one of the main ideas that guided my making of Whåle Tåil and Moon Whale. There is also the element of showcasing the damage done to these creatures through fishing and entanglement. I started this investigation of the Whale in 2D design and continued it using 3D materials. I find Whales very intriguing because they have existed for thousands of years, which is part of why I use them as a symbol for the ocean, and the inherent understanding of the ocean that they have. They have much more of a relationship with the ocean than people ever can. In the clay tile piece, I used the moon and whale's tail interaction to showcase this mutual understanding of something people simply can’t grasp. For the sculpture, I tied in the feeling of entrapment, by using sgraffito on the surface of the clay to portray flowing nets that wound inside of and around the whale.

Whåle Tåil and Moon Whale were made from clay. Once the clay was hardened, I used 2-3 coats of underglaze so I could sgraffito on top. Then I glazed it and put a clear coat on top.

There was a lot of planning that went into both pieces, and much of it was trial and error. First I began with a clay slab and made a sgraffito piece so that I could experiment with sgraffito, and transition into working with clay. Next, I sketched and researched what whale tail sculptures looked like to gather how I could structurally make the piece. I first started using the pinch pot method, which caved in on itself. I then tried building up from the bottom using a combination of coil and slab. This sort of worked, but it also started to fall apart (because it was too thin). So I tried again, using only coil and eventually some slab with the fins. This combination worked better, however, one of the fins is larger than the other, which with more time I would have liked to change. Overall though, I like the way it turned out, and I learned quite a bit in the process about clay and sgraffito.