I have grown a lot as an artist this year and have continuously changed my theme throughout my journy . It was only 6 months ago that I first even touched clay with the intention of creating art. Since then I have discovered myself more than I could have imagined and discovered my projects as well. With out even intending too I invoked natural characteristics in almost all of the projects I worked on. I believe this is a reflection of myself, I am often calm and calculated, absorbed in the natural world around me, and my mood was intertwined with the clay. It is not so much about the physical aspects of nature in my projects, but the way they make you feel, that is alike to nature. Even in the glazing you can see many physical similarities between my projects and the natural world. I use only organic colors for my glazes sticking too blues, greens, and browns. As such my overall theme of my projects is nature and my work explores the feelings that nature itself generates.
I began with a simple tree inspired pate witch was not wheel thrown but was rather a slab project. In it I used a mix of red and normal clay to create the color of a tree and pressed a pattern on it to emulate the bark to an even greater degree. This project although rudimentary was a prime example of how my early projects without me even trying naturally started to lean to a nature like theme.
I second made a large vase latter in the year when I was more aware and willing to follow my theme. I created it with cemix, and used the already white base to compliment the green spirals i tried to paint on it to emulate a palm tree. Although the project ran more than I would have hoped in the kiln, it was still a great example of how the greens and whites I use in many projects can emulate the forrest and evoke naturalistic feelings from the viewer.
My final project I will talk about was one of my last projects done this semester. It was a large bowl fairly plain in form, so i wanted to make it match my theme by glazing it unique. I used detail glaze to paint the inside a mix of pink and black and red. With the outside a recognizable green and black pattern. I drew allot of inspiration from a watermelon for this project. All in all, my theme helped me grow as an artist, explore new techniques foreign to me at the time, and over all helped me create some beautiful artwork.
I began with a simple tree inspired pate witch was not wheel thrown but was rather a slab project. In it I used a mix of red and normal clay to create the color of a tree and pressed a pattern on it to emulate the bark to an even greater degree. This project although rudimentary was a prime example of how my early projects without me even trying naturally started to lean to a nature like theme.
I second made a large vase latter in the year when I was more aware and willing to follow my theme. I created it with cemix, and used the already white base to compliment the green spirals i tried to paint on it to emulate a palm tree. Although the project ran more than I would have hoped in the kiln, it was still a great example of how the greens and whites I use in many projects can emulate the forrest and evoke naturalistic feelings from the viewer.
My final project I will talk about was one of my last projects done this semester. It was a large bowl fairly plain in form, so i wanted to make it match my theme by glazing it unique. I used detail glaze to paint the inside a mix of pink and black and red. With the outside a recognizable green and black pattern. I drew allot of inspiration from a watermelon for this project. All in all, my theme helped me grow as an artist, explore new techniques foreign to me at the time, and over all helped me create some beautiful artwork.