Multiple Pinch Pot Sculpture

Artist Statement

For this project, I was tasked with creating a sculpture or form composed of at least five pinch pots. I enjoy sculpting more natural, rounded forms and bodies or faces, so I chose to create these two, somewhat abstracted ladies, really focusing on the body's form rather than minute details and avoiding sharp edges.

Since the nature of pinch pots in their beginning, creating stage are usually sphere like or rounded, this technique worked really well for the smooth and organic form I was trying to create. I had an original plan and sketch that I deviated from quite a bit in this project, but in its essence I overtook some of the elements so I had a picture of what I wanted to create when I started sculpting. As this project was all about pinch pots, I started both forms by making two sort of oblong, stretched pinch pots by gently pinching and forming a bowl like shape out of a small sphere, which would make up the legs and the torso. I repeated the pinch pot making process with a more shallow 'pot' that would become the stomach or mid-section between the first two pinch pots, which once formed, I cut to make it essentially a tube. I then began assembling upwards, scratching and water-attaching the tops and respective bottoms and smoothing everything out with my fingers, wooden ceramics tools, and a paintbrush with slip. I utilized another four, significantly smaller pinch pots to create the behind and the breasts, making sure to create a hole going through to the main body so as to avoid trapping air. After bisque firing, I used two different brown glazes to try each and see which I liked better.

I intentionally wanted the glaze I used to be one, even coat to really make the natural and rounded form stand out. When the two figures came out of the kiln, I was pleasantly surprised by the darker brown glaze both through its actual color, the semi-matte finish, the speckles of color, and the way it worked with my form, however I enjoyed the other less, simply because I do not like the patchy look and lighter brown almost orange coloring of the glaze. However, overall I am super happy with how these came out, and in particular glad that I was able to try out two different glazes and really get an idea for which I would like to use again moving forward.