Casco Bay Estuary Tile

Porcelain, 7.5” x 7.5”

Essential Question: How do artists use their art to communicate? Specifically, how can I create art that communicates changes and challenges to species within the Casco Bay Estuary?

Visiting Artist: Tim Christensen

Reflection:

I would say that creating this kind of art helps bring awareness to all the endangered animals that are currently in the Caco Bay Estuary and brings attention to the animals that live in our oceans everyday, and the struggles they’re facing right now due to their species dropping. I think that by doing this project, everyone in our class inherited knowledge about all the animals, and we even learned some about other animals too. We learned more abou the ocean cycle and about which animals we see on the beach that are actually slowly dying out. More importantly, what we can do to help all this. Because at the end of the day, if an animals eco system is falling apart, than eventually it will spread to the environment. So getting this fixed and helping these beautiful animals is so crucial

I think that there should be multiple people who see this. For example, even if our school just looked at it, than they would have a good idea of what animals in the beautiful ocean that we swim in are suffering. This may encourage them to want to help or even educate themselves more on this topic. Just by spreading the word, I think that students that are engaged in this topic (like an environmental group maybe) may take action and do research more on these topics.

For me, the most challenging aspect of this project was definitely just adding in all the patterns and drawing details and experimenting with the tile texture and tools to engrave patterns. I had never worked with this kind of clay before or done anything like this, however, that being said, I enjoyed it a lot. I think it was a stepping stone for me as an artist, and I also think that although there were a few bumps and there were most certainly times where I messed up and had to reglaze and carve again, I think that this was essential for me. You can’t learn without making mistakes. At the end of the day, yes, my tile could have been better and looked a bit more cleaner. But overall, I am proud with the lessons that I have picked up from this project and throughout this unit because I think that this will for sure help me in the long run, and I can know all of the critiques and mistakes I made, and learn what and what not to do when I am doing a project with clay like that.

I loved working with Tim, and I thought it was so fun to learn about his story and how inspiring he was as a potter. He gave fantastic critiques and served as a guide throughout most of the project, and without his critiques and such, my project would look nothing like it does now, so I am so grateful that we had the opportunity to work with such a professional that was very kind to all of us and gave us advice and tips so that in the end, we could produce a tile that we are proud and happy with. I liked that he went from each student and gave them critiques as well, because you could listen to all the advice he was giving and use it in your own art. I will remember much of the advice he gave me, such as being precise and working slowly and carefully with certain tools in order to achieve the pattern or detail that you want, and to also keep persisting and work 101% on your project, because if you do, then there is no doubt that you will not be satisfied in the end.