Final Reflection 

What I am most proud of this year is my lamp and coasters, (It was extremly hard to pick one so I decided to pick both) because not only did it teach me how to become much more patient and to trust the process, but this also taught me so many other skills, like cutting out shapes to line the bottom of my coasters perfectly, or how to make a lamp fully usable, and not just for aesthetics. To me, the skill of understanding something deeper than just creating another pot was very helpful. It showed me that if I take this class next semester, I want to create more hands-on pieces that I can use as more than just decoration, but as an actual household item.  The process of making this was also not at all stressful, as it was decently self-explanatory as to what to do and how to do it. 

This has changed my way of thinking about ceramics because again to showed me that I can have interests outside of just making a pot, and it showed me the other sides to ceramics, it helps me realize why many art pieces are priced the way they are, because some art can look simple and as if you could complete it it no time, but realistically it takes so much longer to first, make it practical and second make it something that is visually appealing and something you would like to present and show to the world.  I am glad I get to be able to understand the value of time and art at a much deeper level than I could in my previous ceramics class, because, unlike that class, I can use 100% my ideas to curate something I truly love and that relates to me. 

The best thing about my IS is just the complete freedom I have, and working on my own clock. Yet, that too is a weakness, because although it gives me as many days as humanly possible to create something that I redo 10x over so that it is perfect, I also do wish that at some point I had a strict schedule so I didn't try so hard to smooth everything over 10x and take 3 days to paint a pot, but I do hope to next semester work more on keeping my first go at things, and I also hope to make my ceramics more personal to me.