Ceramics I

Of which in-class project (Pinch Pots, Coil Pot, Slab Project, Artist Inspired) are you most proud? Why? Please explain and be specific. What did you learn from doing this project ( about yourself as an art maker and/or about the technical process of working with clay)? The project I am most proud of is my 5-pinch pot creation. The requirement for this project was very vague, and only required you to make a project that used the pinch pot method, with at least 5 pinch pots. This meant there was a lot of room for creativity. But figuring out what I wanted to do was the hardest part of the project. I made about 4 different constructions, hating every single one of them, and was getting so frustrated. The only clay I hadn't already destroyed...looked like a log. Then I started thinking about different books I had read that related to a log and got my inspiration from one of my favorite childhood stories: A Frog On A Log. Even though the creation itself is the creation that I believe turned out the best, I am most proud of how I overcome my frustration and creative block. In the end, I learned that your plan A is not always going to work out, and sometimes neither is plan B or even plan C, but you should never give up because there is always going to be a positive outcome if you keep persevering.

How has taking this class changed the way you think about ceramics? This could include your own art-making, how you appreciate art, and/or how you might look differently at art in the world around you. Taking the Ceramics class completely changed the way I think about ceramics. I never understood that there could be so many different techniques you could use in creating something as simple as a pot, or even a plate. I also learned that the environment around you can affect your work a lot. This is because sometimes one of my projects might not have been going as planned, and I was feeling very defeated and ready to give up. But then a classmate or my teacher would come up to me and tell me very positive feedback and compliments on my work, and it made me look at the work from an abstract but also the non-creator eye, where I could finally see my work differently, and critiqued it less and found things I learned to love about it more. Ceramics also just gave me a new lens to look at the world with. Now when I go out and see different unique sculptures out of clay, I try to imagine what techniques they used, and what tools and carving techniques were involved.

What recommendations would you make for ways that the class could be improved (please don’t worry about hurting my feelings- artists learn from, and expect, constructive criticism). I think there are only two recommendations I can make for the ways this class could improve. The first recommendation would simply be for people who like to plan ahead and know exactly when certain things are due (like me), and it would just be providing certain dates where you have to have your artist statement completed by that date. I feel like that would be helpful maybe not for everyone, but as someone who likes to procrastinate but also set goals for completion, that would be very helpful. My last recommendation is more of a wish than a recommendation. I wish the period was longer so we were able to learn more techniques and make more projects. But of course it's only a semester class so there is only so much time we have. But in the end, it gives me more motivation to sign up for the second Ceramics class!