Essential Question: What role does persistence play in revising, refining, and developing work?

Purpose: Successfully throw two or more 4”+ cylinders on the wheel. Create two related surfaces using two different techniques.

Artists Studied: Angela Adams & William Morris

Research: I found photos of nature and picked out some of my favorite ones, ultimately I chose a photo that I didn't think I would choose. Then I looked at some of Angela Adam's work and used her pieces as inspiration. After that, I planned out each of my cylinders in my sketchbook including what glazes I wanted to use and what surface-altering technique I was using.

Making the cylinders was very difficult especially because it was my first time throwing on the wheel. I think persistence played a huge role in this project because if I didn’t keep going then I would have gotten nowhere. This project was difficult because we had to aim for a goal of a four-inch height. The tallest my cylinders got was two and a half inches because I would pull out the base too wide. From when I first started this project and to when I completed the throwing aspect of this project I would say I revised how I would pull up the sides and smoothed the surfaces down. Another thing that was tricky about working on the wheel was centering my clay, over time I got a lot better at centering quickly and efficiently, although I still haven’t mastered this skill I have definitely improved.

Next time I will stick with the same technique of keeping my wheel clean and making sure my hands are never dry. Even though these are common things to keep in mind while working with clay on the wheel I feel like these tasks are necessary to keep in mind. Something that I would do differently is that I would start by pulling out my base only a little bit as I tend to bring it out even more as I am pulling up the sides of my cylinder. I noticed that my classmates that reached the four-inch height didn’t pull out their bases too wide, which I was noticing and hoping to do the next time I work on a cylinder on the wheel.

I was inspired by a picture I took of a cluster of seaweed and I decided to carve in some seaweed on one cylinder while using acrylic on the other one. For the cylinder I chose to do acrylic on I had underglaze small bladders of seaweed that look like lily pads onto the surface. I used the same underglaze on both of my cylinders but on the one, I carved into I also decided to use an underglaze pencil to enhance the seaweed look. To keep both of the cylinders tied together I used the same glazes to make them have a similar look and design.