My theme this semester has been using contrasting textures and colors in order to create ambiguity and duality in my work. I do this by using a variety of different glazing techniques, which is something I have been working on a lot this semester. I attempt to use glazes in a way that show a difference in texture and in mood, such as contrasting dark and light glazes, or using matte vs. shiny glazes.
My projects consist of one wide bowl, a tall vase, two smaller vases and a plate. These are a sampling of my work that showcase my theme.
The wide bowl is glazed with half yellow straw and half white, with a part left in the middle with no glaze, showcasing the rough texture of the clay as compared to the soft and smooth glazes. The tall vase has a white base, but at the part that widens at the top, it was dipped in a dark green glaze. This elongates the project and causes an almost jarring visual in the color of the project. One of the smaller vases is done in much the same way as the taller one, but with a lighter green glaze on top to give a more calm feel. The second smaller vase was made as a cylinder with carving marks on the wheel, which were then painted in with blue stain to emphasize the carving. It's dark hue is in contrast of the celedon color that then covers the whole project. This project also has differences in texture as you feel it, because it's rough on one side and soft on the other. Finally, my plate was thrown on the wheel and then blue glaze was painted on the rim to create that contrast and emphasize the circular nature of the plate reflected in the circular painting.
Although much of the time, glaze is used to unify a project or bring different parts of that project together under one color, this semester, I have done the opposite. With my glazes, my projects often look like they have two sides to them: a dark and a light, a rough and a soft. They create duality in the form, a separation that wasn't there in the original form. Looking at my projects from any one angle may be a totally different experience than looking at it from another. The viewer may feel indecisiveness or inconclusiveness in what I meant by making the project, but maybe that's a good thing. Maybe my projects are meant to serve whatever projection the viewer subjects them to. They can be taken in many different ways. Much of the time, when the artist's intentions are not fully clear is when the viewer can subject that piece of art to their own emotions and get a lot more out of viewing that project.
I have taken three semesters of ceramics and it has only been this semester that I have really explored what glaze can do not only on the face of a project, but how it can alter the form as well. Or at least, what the viewer perceives to be the form. I really wanted to make it so people want to pick up and touch my projects: have the differences in color and texture be the focal point, the reason someone picks it up, looks at it, and thinks about it.
My projects consist of one wide bowl, a tall vase, two smaller vases and a plate. These are a sampling of my work that showcase my theme.
The wide bowl is glazed with half yellow straw and half white, with a part left in the middle with no glaze, showcasing the rough texture of the clay as compared to the soft and smooth glazes. The tall vase has a white base, but at the part that widens at the top, it was dipped in a dark green glaze. This elongates the project and causes an almost jarring visual in the color of the project. One of the smaller vases is done in much the same way as the taller one, but with a lighter green glaze on top to give a more calm feel. The second smaller vase was made as a cylinder with carving marks on the wheel, which were then painted in with blue stain to emphasize the carving. It's dark hue is in contrast of the celedon color that then covers the whole project. This project also has differences in texture as you feel it, because it's rough on one side and soft on the other. Finally, my plate was thrown on the wheel and then blue glaze was painted on the rim to create that contrast and emphasize the circular nature of the plate reflected in the circular painting.
Although much of the time, glaze is used to unify a project or bring different parts of that project together under one color, this semester, I have done the opposite. With my glazes, my projects often look like they have two sides to them: a dark and a light, a rough and a soft. They create duality in the form, a separation that wasn't there in the original form. Looking at my projects from any one angle may be a totally different experience than looking at it from another. The viewer may feel indecisiveness or inconclusiveness in what I meant by making the project, but maybe that's a good thing. Maybe my projects are meant to serve whatever projection the viewer subjects them to. They can be taken in many different ways. Much of the time, when the artist's intentions are not fully clear is when the viewer can subject that piece of art to their own emotions and get a lot more out of viewing that project.
I have taken three semesters of ceramics and it has only been this semester that I have really explored what glaze can do not only on the face of a project, but how it can alter the form as well. Or at least, what the viewer perceives to be the form. I really wanted to make it so people want to pick up and touch my projects: have the differences in color and texture be the focal point, the reason someone picks it up, looks at it, and thinks about it.
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