Final Reflection

Final Semester Reflection

In terms of which project I am most proud of this semester, it would have to be the Historical Coil Pot recreation of a Kamares Ware Vessel with my own contemporary exterior design. This was the first large scale ceramic work that I have ever made, perhaps one of the largest and certainly most involved three dimensional works in my art career in general, and it was a unique experience to work with something with such a large surface area. Furthermore, I am proud of how accurately I was able to recreate the original Kamares Ware Vessel, despite going larger in scale than first intended, and how smooth I was able to get the surfaces and combine the coils into one cohesive form. As this project was quite intense in terms of planning, construction, and design, there was a lot of learning, experimenting, and adapting that occurred. For one, paying close attention to the dimensions and ratios of the original vessel and continuously adapting my own form to accurately recreate it. For another, using the coil technique, there had to be thought put into the thickness of my coils knowing that I would be scraping up from both the exterior and interior of the vase to combine the coils and smooth out the walls. All of this planning and careful consideration of all aspects of the project gave me a greater appreciation for other artists working with ceramics and creating such forms as well as a new perspective on myself as an artist and individual, as this project required patience and determination to complete. Perhaps my biggest takeaway from this project would be that taking ones time to do the job right, to follow the steps of proper clay handling and construction, and to be patient and precise with the design pays off, both for my own personal and artistic satisfaction, but also out of respect for the time, energy, and materials used to complete it.

The biggest take away from this class would have to be an increased appreciation for materials and a greater patience for and determination to trust the creative process. In terms of usage of materials and resources, in particular the last project, my artist inspired tea pot, for which we had a three pound clay limit per person, made me become more aware of how much clay I was using for my projects and where I could save unnecessary waste. Both in ceramics next semester, in other art classes, and when working on my own, I will be more aware of the amount of resources I utilize, both because it saves money, materials, and energy, but also because I feel like I spent more time caring for every part of my work when I had a limited amount of clay to use. Throughout this class, I have also gained more patience for myself and for the artistic process of ceramics specifically as well as art in general. To successfully complete a ceramic work there are so many things to watch out for, for instance having the right thickness, removing air bubbles, and having walls and coils well combined, and allowing the vessel or sculpture to set up to the proper hardness or dryness, either to add to, carve away from, or put in the kiln. These projects have forced me to take my time on my art, which though I already do, has a different nature about it, as I can't continue to work on ceramics whenever I get home, you have to leave it for a day or so and come back later, which in turn allowed me to really think about what I was making, how to do it, and why.

With ceramics taking time to create and complete, I would say the biggest struggle was to meet deadlines, although I had the ability to utilize both of my study halls so this was less so a problem for me. However, if the expectation for instance had been to make two mugs rather than four from the beginning, perhaps it would have changed how I personally or students in general approached the assignment and what we ended up creating. Then again, the class is fairly lenient in regards to turning in work late and adapting assignments to fit the students needs. Other than that, I really don't have any suggestions, I enjoyed how self led the class was while remaining in a certain framework of expectations for the form or technique, and I believe it gave a really good, pretty in-depth overview of clay hand building.