Historical inspired coil pot

Progress Photos

Artist statement:

For this project, I had to research and find a historical pot that I wanted to recreate. I chose to recreate a pot from 750 BCE in Athens, Greece. It stood out to me because I liked the design on it and the figure of it was really cool to me. To create this pot, it was required that we used the coil technique. This pot took me a lot of time to make and it was definitely one of the most challenging assignments we have had this year. I had to really focus on the shape of the historical pot in order to be successful in the recreation process. This project took me two tries. The first pot that I created was going well until I realized it was much too wide and short. This is when I realized that I need to focus a lot more on technique and shape rather than just making visual progress. I restarted about a week in and focused a lot more on making sure my pot was taller and more narrow. I got many callbacks and made a lot of progress both in class and out of class. Although my time was cut short, I made sure not to rush through the process that my work would not turn out sloppy. I used the serrated smoothing tool probably the most for this pot and it helped me smooth everything out. I also enjoyed using the spinner wheel to put my pot on while I worked on it because it allowed me those the whole thing better. Over time, I got better at knowing where to place my coils in order to make it thinner and wider in some places. To finish off my final pot, I trimmed the top so that it was even and I did some final touches and lastly, I glazed my design on. I chose my design because I thought it was a very cute contemporary design that went well with my historical pot.

The hardest part of this project for me was recreating the figure of the original pot. The best thing for me to do was restart because it allowed me to have a much better idea of what I needed to do for the shape. It was also hard to make the pot even on all sides and not lopsided. The most evolving part of my process was creating an entire different pot. My favorite part of this assignment building the coils outward to make the pot go from skinner to fatter. This was fun for me because I thought it was easier to smooth out compared to when I had to bring the pot from fatter to skinner, making the coils come inward. The element of my work that I am proudest about was that I kept on persevering even when it felt easy to give up but I wanted to create a pot to the best of my ability rather than creating something that I wasn't going to be happy with. I am happy with the way my final pot turned out and I am glad that I got to experience overcoming hardships during this project. I did have some struggles with this assignment but I was able to overcome them and make a product that I was proud of.