Thursday, March 24, 2016

Vessel piece

Vessel Piece (in progress)

https://www.pinterest.com/pfrazelle/vessel-piece/

I plan to make a clay bowl that is more round I plan to paint it more neutral colors and add metallic highlights in it.
 

Form challenge

Form Challenge

I liked doing the piece but most of it was difficult. Attaching the tree trunk to the base was hard to do and I used a lot of glue. I then tried to figure out how to attach the leaves to the trunk. I used wire to do this after trying several times to make it look nice without it. Once I made the wire stems and rolled the green paper it was easy to attach them to the tree. Another problem was attaching the bird to the tree, I don't think it is securely attached it could fall off at any moment and I need to fix that. I learned how to use wire effectively when adding things to a piece of art. 


             

Pit Fire 1+2



Pit Fire 1&2

Pit fire is a piece with a white or light clay body that will show the darker colours of the chemical stains, and has large smooth areas to show off the swirls, smudges and splatters. Saggars are simply refractory containers designed to subject the ceramic work placed in it to an atmosphere of the makers’ choice. 
I used the wheel to make the piece it was basic and small. Once it was fired I put terra sig on it all over. One thing that I would have changed was the amount of stuff I put into the foil. I also put plastic on it and it was stuck to it and was very problematic. Finding the right chemicals to put on the piece was difficult and didn't work out very well. It is very different from normal firing because normal pieces are planned out more and turn out the way you planned most of the time, but pit firing pieces are more random and unplanned. Even though the piece didn't work as I planned I do like it and would do it again. Especially since now I know what not to do.

Relief post 1 and 2

Relief Post

I will be making an elephant head out of paper mache and painting it with blues and purples. First I will start with a cardboard cut out of the head and ears. Then use wire to make the trunk.

The cardboard piece helped me to show layers
 on my main relief piece. The tile piece helped
 me decided the theme of my art pieces. I then sketched
out the elephant and at first I wanted to layer the 
cardboard like the chameleon. It was to much to do
having so many layers in an elephant face that I
changed the piece to paper mache. 
    
If I were to do the project over again I would add more layers of paper mache because it was too wrinkly. I would have added more paint so that it looked more realistic. While I was working on the piece I ran into a problem, the trunk was very hard to sculpt. I then used wire to make the trunk and wrapped it in news paper, taped it down and put paper mache on it. Overall I think the piece was a success.  
Final Product
 

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

inspired artist

Inspired artist

artHopeSpot_03
Courtney Mattison is an artist that works with clay to make ceramic pieces. This pieces are mostly small pieces of coral reef which she then adds together to make a large scale piece. She was born in San Francisco, then she received an interdisciplinary Bachelor of Arts degree in marine ecology and ceramic sculpture from Skidmore College in 2008 and a Master of Arts degree in environmental studies from Brown University with coursework at the Rhode Island School of Design in 2011. Courtney choose to do coral reefs because she loves them for being exotic and diverse. She believes that "We protect what we care about and we care about what we know and understand. Art can bring the beauty and peril of reefs above the surface and into view and can inspire us to protect the ocean." so she is trying to protect the coral reefs.