E. Brodnik

The title of my work is “Bold”. I named my piece based upon my love and desire for black and white. The subject matter is due to always being in love with sgraffito. I have also been an honest person who will tell you exactly how things are the way they are. In doing so, it’s allowed me to be an open and honest person to anyone and everyone. The flowers resemble the beauty and life skills  I have developed throughout my life because it’s allowed me to focus on myself and become the person I’ve always wanted to be. 

My peers, family, and neighbors inspire who I am when I wake up and go to sleep. They influence me in many ways because they enforce me to be who I really am. Without their support I would never of stepped out of my comfort zone. That being said, my platter having black and white designs have allowed me to view the flower in a very different way. I see the world as a beautiful, unique and an inspiring place to grow up in. I feel so relieved and unified that I get the chance to blossom upon my own feet and become the independent individual my mom has always accounted me for. 

When creating my piece, I rolled out a very large sized chunk of clay hot dog style so it would cover the mold I wanted to create. Then I wrapped my piece in a plastic garbage bag and let it sit for about four days. Once my piece became leather hard, I took it out of the plastic bag, trimmed it, smoothed it out, and conducted craftsmanship among my  piece. After my piece was fired, I sgraffitoed my piece with black underglaze on the top, and white underglaze on the bottom. I left the top cream colored because it brought out a unique style and change to my traditional work sets.  

I am very satisfied with my piece and how it turned out. When fixing some minor issues I wish I wouldn’t of used white underglaze due to leaving the top the natural firing cream color. This piece is a summary of my overall work and how I like to design my artwork.