Friday, December 30, 2016


Soup
steam
spiral
tape



Peer Review

Peer Review

She was working on a clay vase that she was gonna paint with glaze. She was still molding it and designing it.

Figurative Piece

Figurative Piece (unfinished)

During this project I had a hard time getting the skin color right and putting all the metal pieces on correctly. I also had trouble with the hair I'm still unsure of what I'm going to do for the hair. I may paint it on or clue on hair to the head. With the skin I used a base skin tone then asked for help to make it look more like skin tone we added white and blue to make it look less orange. The metal pieces were just difficult to place but over time I was able to add them correctly.

After working on the skin tones for a long time I think those turned out the best and she looks very life like. If I could change anything I would have made hair out of clay and added it before firing the piece so that I could paint it on rather than adding hair after.

For my piece I used a mold and made the model then carved it and changed it till it fit what I wanted I made some places more sunk in like the face and ribs and I carved out an area for the metal parts. After the piece was fired I painted on glaze in the area where I would later add the metal pieces to make it more shiny. For the rest of the piece I used acrylic paint so it was more matte than shiny. Then I broke down electronic pieces and hot glued them on to the part of the piece that was glazed some didn't stick and some didn't fit right but I fixed it for the most part.

Inspired artist #2

Inspired artist #2

http://smcmennamy.tumblr.com/

bridge + guitar
getting this shot of the Brooklyn bridge with @flynyon was one of the more memorable experiences I’ve ever had. BONUS: we surprised the kids with an aerial excursion over Manhattan and I can honestly say I’ve never seen my...tree trunk + elephant trunk
I’ve been wanting to do something with an elephant for a while now, but two things happened with that, I never felt like I had a super solid idea and I don’t have access to elephants. Like ever. Cut to me in the Bahamas...  Stephen McMennamy uses two photos and merges them together it looks cool and is funny. I couldn't find much about him but I like his style it makes you think and leads your eye.

Thursday, June 2, 2016

Final Exam

Final Exam!!!

During my time in sculpture I used many different tools the two that I enjoyed the most were the wheel and I liked using all of the clay tools to make sculptures. The wheel was fun to learn and is a fast way to make bowls and vases once you learn how too. That was my favorite tool to use. Since the beginning of the semester I have learned all the different tools and how they can help an artist to finish their work. Tools help to mold and make things easier and quicker to accomplish.

What was your favorite material that you used this year? Why do you like working with it?
My favorite material this semester was clay it is easy to mold and fun to play with. I made many things out of clay.

Which project was your least successful? Explain why you consider this work of art unsuccessful? If you were to create this project over, what changes would you make?
The project I consider least successful was my unconventional material piece. I think that it turned out poorly because it wasn't Incorporated into the piece very well. If I could have changed anything I would have took my time and created something better. I would not have procrastinated and I would have brainstormed longer and came up with a cool idea and I would have figured out how to accomplish it.
What is your least favorite material to work with and why? How did you deal with it, what didn’t you like about it.  Please explain.
My least favorite material was cardboard it is hard to cute and shape making it very hard to making something cool out of it. It is also very time consuming. We did this in a group and we split up the working making it easier to manage. My favorite material is clay because it is easy to mold and that is the reason why cardboard is my least favorite. I don't enjoy building sculptures out of it that require it to be cut all the way through but I did like cutting layers of it. Even though I did enjoy some aspects of it, it is my least favorite material.

Scraffito Tray

Scraffito Tray

a form of decoration made by scratching through a surface to reveal a lower layer of a contrasting color, typically done in plaster or stucco on walls, or in slip on ceramics before firing.





I think the plate turned out very well the eye in the middle is my favorite part of the plate I think the lines around it could have been better. I learned that you'll need to plan things out.

3 Bowls for EMPTY BOWL PROJECT

3 Bowls for EMPTY BOWL


I think the 3 bowls turned out nicely the one I made on the wheel took awhile, but I finally got it and it looks nice. I made one on the wheel one out of tissues paper and one pinch pot but I lost that one.

 For the tissue paper one I glued tissue paper down onto the bowl and left for awhile to dry.
The wheel was a lot harder and I tried many times. I finished it after many tries and think it turned out very well. I loved using the wheel and would love to use it again.
The pinch pot was easy I just took a ball of clay and pulled/pinched it into a pot, but I lost this one after it was fired.


Unconventional Material Challenge

Unconventional Material Challenge/Wire Tree

The material I worked with was old train track stakes.
While using this material I had to overcome how to use it.  It was a hard material to use. I think merging to things together worked well. Next time I think I will use more time and try and come up with better ideas.
I started by rapping the wire around the stake and then twisting it together to make the trunk. After that I twisted green wire around the limbs so it looked like there were leaves. Then I put little balled up pieces of white wire on the tree to make it look as if it has flowers. Next time I make a tree I think I will make the roots like I was supposed to and add more limbs and flowers.



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.