In the Spring of 2021 I was given an assignment that simply read, "create a series of vessels that were thrown in the round, taken off the wheel and altered to no longer be in the round." Upon reading the prompt I tried to ask for more direction from the professor, but he instead told me that there were no other directions. Feeling dumbfounded by the prompt and overwhelmed by the possibilities, I sat down and tried to sketched some ideas, but nothing was coming to my mind. 

How was I supposed to make something and alter it and have it still serve a function? Baffled by this question I spent the next weekend trying to come up with a solution, but there wasn't one. That was when I realized that I was asking the wrong question. I was so concerned about functionality that I had lost the purpose of art all together- beauty. Not everything that I make must serve a functional purpose. Sometimes a piece simply serves the purpose of being beautiful. 

Growing up in my home there was not much that was there purely for beauty or just for looking at. Almost everything had a function. I was raised not to be excessive and to only purchase what I needed. This idea had seeped into my artwork and made me close-minded to what I was making. There was nothing I made that did not have a clear function. I believe that this was because of my upbringing and because of the fact that I believed that my customers would view my art the same way. I thought that nobody would want to pay for something that wasn't functional and that was instead just meant to sit on a shelf and be looked at. Clearly I was wrong. When I warmed up to this idea of 'art for art's sake' my art juices began to flow again. I found my self starting with the basic shapes that I knew how to throw, and then scratching them with a fork or textured object. From there I would turn on my wheel again and slowly add swirls to the sides of the vessels. This gave texture and dimension to the work. When It came time to glaze I purposely choose glazes the would accentuate the shape and texture of each piece as to draw in the viewers eye and to keep them looking at the vessel as they continue to look at it.

I had relearned what It meant to make 'art for art's sake'.