Ceramics I

bear final picture above...

The project I am found to be most proud of is definitely the slab project, although, as seen in the image above, the individual project that I am most proud of is the teddy bear that is within the pinch pot projects. But, as a whole, I am most proud of the slab pieces I constructed. This is because, I was able to create multiple individual projects that I like in their own way, unlike for the pinch pot, I really only liked my summative. Within the slab project, my favorite pieces are probably the small cup (technically a shot glass), and my square plate. In addition to those projects, I really liked the colors I chose and thought that they matched what I was going for quite well. As a whole, I am quite proud of the small cup because of the slight elegant, but fun look the glazes added. And the plate I like a lot because I believe it is quite unique. Another reason I liked the slab projects more is that I found them to be more of my level compared to the pinch pots and coil projects. With my pinch pots, I found it difficult to smooth out my fingerprints, and maintain the correct shape, and for the coil project, I just had a not so good experience; I began a class with the coil project but didn't finish and had to come back another class, meanwhile the piece I had created originally was getting pretty dry so building off of it was pretty difficult. And to add to this, carving into it after making the whole thing that much more frustrating. For these reasons, I found the slab projects to be my favorite, and ultimately, probably the one I am best and more comfortable at.

This class has definitely changed my view on ceramics as a whole because it has resulted in me obtaining a much greater appreciation for those who make a life's work out of it. In this class, I ran into many, many obstacles, and my final results for such projects weren't as amazing as I would have hoped, especially after the artist research assignment. This is because this is where I found all these amazing artists and the work that they have created. I also now understand further the amount of time and dedication that is required in ceramics, even including the firing process and glazing. Not only this but after taking ceramics, my view on the art in this world has changed quite a bit as well. Previous to taking this art class I had never really dealt with much clay, in a more formal setting, meaning I really only did artwork containing pencils, pens, paint, etc. But now, after ceramics, I was forced to understand that the field of artwork is much more widespread than I had originally thought.

Personally, I do not believe that there is much to criticize or judge for this class. This class was definitely one of my favorites and I always looked forward to it. I believe that we were given a great amount of freedom with our artwork that allowed us to expand our horizons and become better artists as a whole. Understandably though, with the addition to COVID-19, there were definitely some things to get used to, so along those lines, with the rules and guidelines that we needed to follow, I would say in the future for everyone to have more time awareness. I often found myself rushing my cleanup to get out of the door which isn't very helpful to anyone especially because that means people are forced to clean up after me.