Completing Ceramics First Year

Ultimately I believe the final vessel conveyed the theme most effectively. I glazed the other works purely because they were essential in the development of my ideas and needed to be finished products. The pots I believe were most effective when glazed. The large vessel I intended to leave unpainted and use a transparent glaze, however upon consideration, it did need something more. I used the turquoise crackle glaze in the raku kilin and I must say i love the effect. The copper produced a pink, metallic finish inside the vessel, allowing a more earthy feel to the piece. Overall I am satisfied with the progress I have made with my initial idea

Finalising an Idea

The final piece for my narrative project is my vase. Because the separate pots did not expressively convey the narration theme, I combined the images onto one circular plate. These included the trees, flowers, fruit and birds, as well as a stream and central globe. The plate depicts the Wiccan story of creation, that the earth is all interconnected in one never-ending loop. The pot which I constructed to put this in represents the fertility of the Mother, i.e. The Womb.

My surrounding enviornment as Vessels

I had been working with figure-like ideas, the main concept being based solely around the female form. I have recently decided that my theme is becoming somewhat more 'mother' orientated. I have, therefore, begun looking at the mother as a vessel, rather than a figure. The vessel has symbolised women in the past and was often associated with the womb and fertility. I focused more so on my surrounding enviornment, earth, trees, flowers, animals, roots, rivers, rocks. I do believe this is much more effective and I've made each of these within a separate vessel to give each of them importance.

The Female Figure

This week we've begun working with clay. As I've been experimenting in my journal with the female figure in an attempt to express mother nature, I began with that. I partially carved the figure within the clay, pushing back any excess but not removing the figure completely from the clay. I kept her half submerged in the rock. I was hoping to convey the idea of a woman that was still connected with the earth and a part of it. I do believe the idea is obvious, however I'm not entirely pleased with the end product so I may avoid firing it. I do think it was important to allow my theme to progress. Keeping to the theme of the earth is my mother I created an image of a woman cradling the world. I wanted the piece to project how close I was to the subject and how it exists, for many, as a part of everyday life. Therefore, I manipulated the image into a teapot. I used a coiling technique and, unfortunately, it was not as precise as I had hoped but I am still pleased with the experimentation, though it could have been neater. So far this week, this is the only experimentation I've done with clay.