FIGURE
For this project, we turned to the pottery wheel. Broken into different parts, the assignment was to create 2 sets of vessels that were both figurative and functional.
Part A: Throw 10 Pots
To begin, the first step was to throw 10 pots, similar in both size and shape, on the wheel. The last time I had thrown was in my freshman year during my Clay and Composition class, so it took me a while to regain the skill that I’ve lost. It was a tough process as it required me to take several hours outside of the class block to make something that reached my expectations. The problem that I constantly ran into was that my hands weren’t matching the speed of the wheel. Each time, the material would either become off balance as I pulled material from the base, or rip if I pinched and pulled too hard. Fortunately, I managed to make the right adjustments to throw high-quality pots.
Part B: Functional Cups
Moving on to Part B, we selected our best four pots and made them in functional cups. It also been a long time since I added handles to a cup, so I sort of misjudged its position on some of them. This is part of understanding functionality as it would be hard to lay a cup on its lip if the handle is in the way. For designs, I wanted to keep the theme of fire from Dynamic Form. In the two foremost cups, the red, orange, and yellow strokes of color return in the composition. With one focusing on organic shapes while the other on geometric shapes, I successfully depict the same idea in opposite ways. As for the outer two cups, there were more of experimenting with sgraffito on the underglaze.
Part C: Figurative Forms
Lastly for Part C, we had to assemble the remaining six pots into two distinct closed forms. These forms could have been based on famous figurative forms from other cultures, so I chose Michelangelo’s David and the bust of Queen Nefertiti. Looking at them now, I believe that someone can see the resemblance as I made sure to have the main characteristics of each reference as the forms’ focal points.
Like Dynamic Form, I decided to stick with acrylics for my figures. Since the forms went beyond their references, painting allowed me to make specific details such the visible gradient on Nefertiti’s helm and the color smears on her face. I was also able to emphasize the texture on my David by repeatedly tapping the areas with yellow. Combined with the green base, it made the piece more faceted as there is something to contrast the gesture made on the other side.
Gallery
