Pinch Pot
Artist Statement
During this first unit, I learned how to express my ideas and create pots with earthenware clay. Before this unit, I have never taken a ceramics course and therefore was my first time creating anything with clay. In this unit, I learned a variety of things: I first learned how to wedge and remove air bubbles from the clay, learned how to include exterior/interior texture to the pots as well as adding handles, foots, lids, piercings and glazing my pots. After I learned how to perform these tasks, I was able to get creative with my work and apply the skills learned to my unique pots.
Ever since I was in elementary school, my artistic ability was not very great. I was not good at drawing or painting things and therefore was always insecure about art classes. As I entered high school and had more control over the courses that I could take, I, quite naturally, deviated away from the art classes (drawing, 2D, etc). All of my courses were purely academic throughout ninth and tenth grade except for the choir classes. When I was choosing my classes for eleventh grade last summer, I came to a realization that I really want to try taking an art course. Not music, but art. I became aware that if I did not take an art course during my leftover years in high school, I would have almost no chances of taking such courses in my life. Despite the fact that I was a little afraid of the grades that I would receive in art classes, I took on the adventure and signed up for ceramics. Even though it is not a course that consists of physically drawing objects on paper, I believed that it would open me up to a whole new field that would allow me to express myself in forms of art. From this pinch pot unit, I definitely learned a lot of skills that I could apply to creating objects with clay. Most importantly, I gained a lot of confidence. Because of my lack of artistic abilities, I was afraid to go for an art course that could potentially harm my grades. However, upon taking on the challenge, I gained a lot of confidence and was able to get rid of my insecurities regarding art. I think this unit was a great unit to do first because it allowed me to express my ideas in a simple way of shaping clay. With the completion of this unit, I feel that I grew as an artist because I now can think of an image in my head, draw it out on the sketchbook, and start creating my own pots as I desire.
I think the greatest weakness that I had during this unit was the ability to level out my clay into the shape that I wanted it to be. When I made my pots, the walls of the containers and bowls were somewhat bumpy and not very leveled. Even though, through sanding, I was able to level some bumpy roads out, it was not very satisfactory. I think before I fire my earthenware clay, I should use more of the patting cardboard to level out the walls, both inside and outside. Also, after I fire the pots, I should use thinner pieces of sand paper to level out the inside walls of the pots.
The unit as a whole progressed in a fair and calm manner. We had enough time to create our pots, fire them, and finally glaze them. I designed 6 different objects (2 dog bowls, a cup and 3 containers) and am ver excited to use them at home. After I drew out the pots that I wanted to create, I labeled the sketches with the interior/exterior texture that I wanted to include and indicated the glazes that I wanted to use. When we first received the Pinch Pot Unit description sheet which had a variety of skills labeled in it, I had no idea what those skills were. They were all very new to me. However, after completing this unit, I understand what those techniques are and am confident that I will be able to apply them throughout my years as a ceramics student. I believe that some important things that we learned during this unit is that clay shrinks, and that many different glazes can be applied in many different ways. I learned that I have to take into consideration that clay shrinks when I want to add lids so that the cup and the lid will fit well together after they both shrink. Along with the shrinking nature of clay, I also learned that different types of glaze (low fir and high fire) are used for different types of clay (earthenware and stoneware clay). I learned many important skills and facts about ceramics in our first unit, and I hope to carry the things that I learned to future units of this course.
Ever since I was in elementary school, my artistic ability was not very great. I was not good at drawing or painting things and therefore was always insecure about art classes. As I entered high school and had more control over the courses that I could take, I, quite naturally, deviated away from the art classes (drawing, 2D, etc). All of my courses were purely academic throughout ninth and tenth grade except for the choir classes. When I was choosing my classes for eleventh grade last summer, I came to a realization that I really want to try taking an art course. Not music, but art. I became aware that if I did not take an art course during my leftover years in high school, I would have almost no chances of taking such courses in my life. Despite the fact that I was a little afraid of the grades that I would receive in art classes, I took on the adventure and signed up for ceramics. Even though it is not a course that consists of physically drawing objects on paper, I believed that it would open me up to a whole new field that would allow me to express myself in forms of art. From this pinch pot unit, I definitely learned a lot of skills that I could apply to creating objects with clay. Most importantly, I gained a lot of confidence. Because of my lack of artistic abilities, I was afraid to go for an art course that could potentially harm my grades. However, upon taking on the challenge, I gained a lot of confidence and was able to get rid of my insecurities regarding art. I think this unit was a great unit to do first because it allowed me to express my ideas in a simple way of shaping clay. With the completion of this unit, I feel that I grew as an artist because I now can think of an image in my head, draw it out on the sketchbook, and start creating my own pots as I desire.
I think the greatest weakness that I had during this unit was the ability to level out my clay into the shape that I wanted it to be. When I made my pots, the walls of the containers and bowls were somewhat bumpy and not very leveled. Even though, through sanding, I was able to level some bumpy roads out, it was not very satisfactory. I think before I fire my earthenware clay, I should use more of the patting cardboard to level out the walls, both inside and outside. Also, after I fire the pots, I should use thinner pieces of sand paper to level out the inside walls of the pots.
The unit as a whole progressed in a fair and calm manner. We had enough time to create our pots, fire them, and finally glaze them. I designed 6 different objects (2 dog bowls, a cup and 3 containers) and am ver excited to use them at home. After I drew out the pots that I wanted to create, I labeled the sketches with the interior/exterior texture that I wanted to include and indicated the glazes that I wanted to use. When we first received the Pinch Pot Unit description sheet which had a variety of skills labeled in it, I had no idea what those skills were. They were all very new to me. However, after completing this unit, I understand what those techniques are and am confident that I will be able to apply them throughout my years as a ceramics student. I believe that some important things that we learned during this unit is that clay shrinks, and that many different glazes can be applied in many different ways. I learned that I have to take into consideration that clay shrinks when I want to add lids so that the cup and the lid will fit well together after they both shrink. Along with the shrinking nature of clay, I also learned that different types of glaze (low fir and high fire) are used for different types of clay (earthenware and stoneware clay). I learned many important skills and facts about ceramics in our first unit, and I hope to carry the things that I learned to future units of this course.