Final Reflection

Final Reflection:

I decided to take Ceramics II this year because I really enjoyed learning how to work with clay and gaining skills in Ceramics I.  In this class, I really wanted to push myself and use the skills that I learned in ceramics I to make more complex pieces that showed my skills and abilities as best as possible. Looking back over the semester now that the class is over, I would say that I was able to accomplish this goal, therefore, my experience in Ceramics II was very successful. This year, I created pieces way beyond my ceramics I skills and challenged myself to use clay in ways that I never had before.  Although I had many successes, I did have some challenges when taking this course. One of the challenges I had this year was coming up with good ideas that were original, realistic to make, and that fit the prompt in which I was given to follow. For example, in the duality project, I had no idea what to make and I found myself stuck when brainstorming good ideas. I think this hardship was shown through my work because it was probably my least favorite piece that I created this year.  Another challenge I faced this year was time limits. As I took on challenging parts and ideas, I found myself needing more time to create what I wanted, so staying on time with the project became more difficult. Fortunately, I was able to get callbacks and come to work on my projects during my study hall in order to stay up to date with my work.

Picking my favorite project this year is hard, but if I really had to choose, I would say my favorite piece that I made this year was my eccentric teapot. For this project, I made a cow teapot that was somewhat functional but overall made for more of a sculptural purpose. This was my favorite project because it was my biggest challenge. I had never really created a vessel this complex before because it had so many different pieces that I had to make. I had to make a body, a tail that would be used as a handle, feet, utters, a realistic cow head, and a lid. This was my biggest challenge but it was also my most rewarding project. I was so happy with how it turned out and so glad that I could push myself and create something I loved. In contrast, my least favorite project this year was the duality project. This was my least favorite because I did not understand the concept of duality and what I was supposed to create based on the idea of duality. Since I had such a hard time coming up with ideas for this project, I sort of settled on the idea of making a piece that was a fish and had land painted on the fish. This idea was a lot harder to create than I had originally thought and since I didn't love the idea, I didn't feel like I wanted to push myself to make it look the best it possibly could. Overall, I had more projects this year that I loved than ones I hated, so I would say it was again, an overall success.

 Looking back over the semester, I would say this class ran very well for me. I liked how projects ran in terms of the introduction, the work days, and the glazing days. Something that helped me to stay on task is how there were timelines for the project. For example, Mr. A would explain that we had one class period to brainstorm and design our piece, four class periods to work with the clay,  and two class periods to glaze. This is just an example, but the listed due dates pushed me to get as much done as possible in class. Another thing I enjoyed about how the class ran is the environment. I was always really excited to come to class because I was able to talk to my friends a lot and listen to good music but at the same time, be very productive and get a lot done.  Something that did not run so great for me in this class was probably forgetting some things from my Ceramics I class that would have been helpful during Ceramics II. For example, I forgot how to do a few things like slab rolling and drying cups properly so the handles don't crack, that would have been helpful to remember in this class. Something that could help with this is maybe a review day at the beginning of the semester that gives the class a few important reminders and just a reflection of what we learned throughout ceramics I that we can carry with us into this class.

In the end, I really enjoyed this class. I feel like my ceramics skills were improved greatly and I was able to create pieces that I loved. I was always excited to come to this class and even though I was doing a lot of work every day in the class, it still felt like a nice break from my busy school days. I would definitely recommend taking Ceramics II to anyone who has taken Ceramics I already, it is totally worth it.