Artist Statement

For this project we were asked to asked to create a set of lidded jars. These should make use of the design principle unity. They had to incorperate a lid and handle of some sort, and at least of the pots has to have a foot. First I started by getting a large amount of clay and splitting this in half, I weighed these to make sure they were equal and then split each amount into two (however still associating them together). Then I made 4 (2 each) clementine shapes to start off the pots. I then stuck my thumb in and started pinching what would be the bottom of the side and waited for the top of the sides to be last. I eventually slipped and scored the two associating pots together (2 each) so they would now be cylindrical hollow pots. I then used a needle tool to scratch a line around where I wanted the lid to be and continued scratching around the pot until the top came off. Continuously I smoothed the inside of each lid and body of the pot till it was smooth with a wooden tool. I then created my lip that helps the lid of my pot stay on my scratching and splitting a little piece of rolled clay on there. Then I created a handle by forming a piece of clay and scratching and slipping with a ribbed tool and slip. I continued with making two coils for each of the feet and scratched and slipped this on. once these were done I let it bone dry and then bisque fired it and then glazed it and then fired it again for the final product. 

I used several different elements of art to create this principle of design. For my elements of art I started with form and shape. This was mostly used in the actual structure of the pot to create the certain look that I wanted. I wanted more of a cylindrical look rather than curved, and I wanted the foot and handle to have a natural look being slightly more curved and fitting your finger nicely when holding the handle.  For the rest of my elements of art i focused on texture and color. Texture comes into play for the smooth naturalness of the feeling of the pot. This feels completely smooth from the glaze as I wanted it to. For color I used Jade C-27 and Sky C-21. Jade is the green color bellow and sky is the blue color bellow. I used these colors because I felt like they were easy to spot in nature. I also used alternating colors inside and outside the pot because I felt like this helped with the unity. Moreso on the my principles of design, unity was also shown in the very similar shape and texture. I wanted them to look similar so they looked like part of a set. For the contrast of these pots I liked the color of the glaze on the outside versus the color of the glaze on the inside versus the color of the clay material. I feel like this makes the pots interesting but not busy. 

The ideas that prompted me on this are the more natural cylinder look. I wanted this to be practical but pretty and I liked how the pots showed this. I originally wanted this to be functional at home and for it to be a useful part of my moms cooking in the kitchen. I thought this would also be a good gift for her. I am proudest of this work that it came to be the goal of what I was looking to create. This can overall be practical and useful in the real world. This also looks organic which I love. Something I struggled with was creating an even thickness. This was difficult because since this is taller than wider the pot was hard to get to the bottom of and smooth everything out easily while still maintaining the natural organic look. I tried using the smooth rib and wooden tools, this helped quite a bit but still was hard to get inside. 

The Process