Research – Ceramics – 2015
In the highlighted blue sections below, there are search terms I used in Google while brainstorming for the lovely projects we had in ceramics…
Project 1: Verb
Throwing cylinders
-As I searched, I saw this great tutorial on how to throw a cylinder on a pottery wheel by Sheridan Ray. This man displayed great techniques that helped me focus on where and when I needed to pull to make my cylinder taller. The links directly below will take you to a cylinder throwing tutorial and the next one will take you to Sheridan’s blog on Google BlogSpot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ITaxZeEtJY
http://sheridanraypottery.blogspot.com/
To mend
-This word holds incredible meaning and I knew I would find a lot of information on this word alone. When I searched, I found many pictures and many videos but I knew I had to narrow down my search to something more specific if I wanted to express a clear idea for this project. The picture directly below explains how my random results were.
Sewing clay
-This word was more specific and I found many ideas that actually fit in with what I wanted to accomplish. This picture from deviantart.com was really inspiring.
Patchwork ceramics
-I came across another idea that almost steered me in the another direction: patchwork ceramics. Pam Schomberg is one influential ceramic artist that has my soul. Her work provided some design ideas but did not relate completely with what I wanted to do with my project, which was to actually have clay sewed together. The link below will take you to her site and the picture after shows you a piece of her unique artwork.
http://sableandox.co.uk/ps004-original-decorative-ceramic-art-by-pam-schomberg.html
Bringing together broken pieces.
-After searching for patchwork, I came to the mending of broken pieces and these terms brought me to an awesome installation video by Beili Liu. Her video inspired me to make beauty out of brokenness. I have the link to the video below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXw_Go8hpKc
Sewing and ceramics
I have never thought of adding another medium to ceramics until this year. Michelle Taylor, another awesome artist working with clay, decided to sew cloth to clay tea cups! Check out her creation below by following the link.
http://inhabitat.com/michelle-taylor-knits-and-sews-together-broken-ceramic-tea-sets-anew/
Tangle
-There is this complex artwork that is called Zentangle by Kathy Redmond. She is an instructor and artist. Her work explores tangle in variation. Though I did not choose the word tangle for my project, it was really amazing to come across Kathy’s work. Her link is below.
http://tangledtranquility.com/
Here is an example of Zentangle but this is by a different artist.
Project 2: Choose Your Own/Duality
-I looked up the word duality because I really needed to know exactly what it was. I searched for awhile until I finally had a structural view of my idea and then I started looking up ways to express my work through color, space, and organization.
-Light and Dark
-Tall or small
-Confined or open
For Space Lab Show:
-Tutorials on how to make a quilts was a big help for what I wanted to do for my space lab show. I knew how a quilt was made but I never really made a quilt myself. I wanted to be sure that everything I knew was correct and if there was anything I needed to add. I watched this great woman make a quilt and she made it easy to follow with no distractions and she displayed all the tools that I would need. Professor Pincushion was the quilt maker and she made it look easy. The link to that video is below.
For Project 3: Create Your Own/Scramble
Scramble search
-I searched the words ceramic scramble and did not come up with much I could go on. I did find a lot of tile pieces. Once I changed my wording to just scramble, I was able to get some ideas. Knowing the definition of scramble helped me enough to make my artwork. The picture of the tiles I found, is below.