Week 14

Everything has finally been turned in, all left is my oral defense and the Instagram takeover!

I was tempted just a little on leaving the newspaper because of the crunching and reminded me of leaves. Of course I didn’t though haha! This took forever, and I took as many pictures as I could but the battery kept dying on me so that was quite frustrating. I did end up having to clip the strings off to take it apart and move the piece at the end. Also I had to rent a while Uhaul to transport my pieces, my wallet is hurting! It’s alright though, I’ll make up for it one day.

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Week 13

Everything seems to be coming together. I finally have everything out the kilns and it’s time to start attaching everything together. Here are some photos I took throughout the week! Busy busy busy

Lots of laundry baskets and newspaper were used to transport my things. Having to deal the police is stressful but, oh well. They seem to know me by name now.

Week 12

I don’t remember what week we are on at all but, I think the last thing I wrote was over the southern crossing festival and the work shops we had. It’s been super busy and eventful thanks to Rona2020. I’ve been working to make my color scheme a bit more vibrant instead of the darker blue tones.

Of course I forgot to take pictures of them after coming out of the glaze kiln. I added yellow and green crawling glaze to these. Aside from that I finalized my thoughts on other pieces I was to in corporate alongside this big piece. I’ve always wanted to have a narrative point within my work. I felt that this would be a great time to do that because it’s about a dream and in the dream there was a person who was exploring this place. So I thought of creating objects and trinkets that were found in this forest.

I started by morphing mushroom and lampshade but, I’m also combining natural objects with just basic objects. The only picture I have are the first ones I made

I’ve worked on a few more, working on the form but they’re all in bisque. I’m thinking if either displaying them on the shelf that I made for my original Bosque. I’m also planning on cutting that shelf in half to have two mini shelves. Lastly, I’ve been working on my big piece but i forgot to take a more recent photo of what I have… this is the last photo I’ve take

So the only parts without being built are the two sections on the outside (the ones closer to us). I’ve also painted a great deal of it with pink and blue but I will be adding more colors. Its been difficult to attach the branches because of angles.

Week 7

I’m not going to lie, I didn’t really make a lot of progress this week for my thesis stuff because it was mainly wood kiln week. Oh I also gave a demo on majolica on Monday which I wish I would’ve planned better so I wouldn’t have been so awkward. It’s okay though, it was my first demo ever.

Aside from that I mainly prepared my things by glazing and wadding them for the wood kiln

Whoop there’s some bad photos again. Anyway yeah, I helped load the kiln and also with two evening shifts. I love doing wood fire kilns! I hate that I can never make it to the closing shift but hopefully one day I’ll make it to one!

I did go in Sunday to work on my stuff (finally) and I’ve been trying some new things so hopefully they work out because everything was falling apart on me. I let things get too hard so that was my bad. Anyway I’m feeling the stress for my show now. So here’s to hoping that I get everything done

Week 6

So the main thing that happened was my bfa crit! I showed all my new things that I made:

That’s not a great photo but oh well! Once I unloaded the cone 6 kiln, I was shocked! The colors with the washes I had made were a lot more vibrant than I had anticipated. I’m really excited about this because this is more in line with what I’ve been wanting to do. I also feel like from my crit that these colors are working a bit better. I received a lot of new and good feedback and I hope to get grinding soon! I also did some glaze testing and I’m so pumped because I’m getting closer to making lil droppies! Woot woot! I just gotta keep going.

Also making things for the wood kiln! I’m so excited for it and hopefully we can fill it up! I’m trying to make some planters for my dying plants that really need new planters.

Week 5

I have been trying to work and get some things finished for my bfa crit! Also I made lots of stuff for the Valentine’s Day sale and I failed tremendously… I didn’t test out my glazes and they failed, lesson learned- always test your glazes!

Aside from that, I’ve been thinking of other objects I want to include in my thesis and decided to look at some photographs from my childhood. So I found this tree that I was photographed by quite a bit and so I’m trying to kind of recreate it. I’m also thinking of expanding the way I’ve been making my forest by adding rocks/cliffs and other forms besides my trees. While I was workin on that I began a pass with a hollow tree body that ended up turning into something else

I also accidentally dropped it but I’m fine with that, a lot more now than when it first happened. I didn’t know how to finish the top but then Brian mentioned how to reminded him of those circular vessels from Mexico and honestly I’ve always looked at them but never thought about how I could incorporate them into my work so that’s interesting to me.

Anyway the only other photo I took before loading my bisque was this

The Semester Plan – Week 1 Spring 2020

Woooot! This is the beginning of my last semester, feels stressful already… However, I’m super excited for what is to come! For my thesis, I am planning on continuing from my last piece that I made of the trees. I am planning on building a lot more shelves/stands from wood and smaller ones to go on those using clay. I envision it to seem like a collage of materials. The overall shape and scale that I’m hoping to accomplish is like a U shape and wide enough for people to fit into the opening of the “U”.

To continue on that, my thoughts come from the moments of rituals, and meditation. Over the break, I was reflecting on my initial idea of how I wanted to expand my Forest  piece and the idea I had was more of a “this would look aesthetically pleasing” rather than a purpose. So while I was on facebook, I was reminded of the altars used for the Virgin Mary for the Day of Lady Guadalupe – this event is huge in Mexico. While I don’t really consider myself to be religious at all, the experiences I’ve had are still there. Anyways, this inspired to think of how people could interact with my piece as the Altar that I had been familiar with was also used as a “prop” to when my church would put on a play to reenact the story of lady Guadalupe. In addition to that I also think of places of sanctuary and solitude that a forest can bring, also thinking of other cultures where shrines would be placed in forests at times for that forests “spirit”. So in a way I feel like I am creating my own sacred space, or just a safe space – I do expect this to differ from people to people. Also the dream aspect is still connected, I just need to figure out how to articulate why I feel this connection.

Aside for that, I am going to start by working on my trees, and other objects that will be in this forest. I’m also working on testing out how to control the drippy-ness of the crawling glazes I’ve been using so I’ll be doing that while I work on the trees. I also plan on having 4-5 smaller pieces to go with my thesis, they’ll be like studies and hopefully will help me think of more ideas to incorporate into my bigger piece.

As far as constructing my shelves/stands, I will need to save up some money first but, I am also thinking of trying to find places that have discarded materials or something like that.

I almost forgot, for future life plans I am looking into post-bacc programs after I graduate… If that doesn’t work out then, I’ll do my best working at a studio in Louisville. I really do hope things work out!

 

Week 14

Since this was thanksgiving week, I wasn’t able to do too much. I tried to work on my remaining majolica pieces to get them out of the way and hopefully have them for the at sale but, I was at a loss with time and didn’t have the energy to think of what I would illustrate on them. I did put things to get bisqued and such but, I didn’t get to do too much.

Also I found out my things made it into the juried show so I’m super excited about that!!! I started hanging up the bugs and it’s as tedious as it was the first time around.

Week 13

I didn’t have that much of a productive week since I was trying to take it a bit easy from the prior week. However I started thinking about the studio potter article I had read and sustainability. I decided that going forward I would try to reuse and recycle all the clay scraps I always end up with by reclaiming them. I thought it would be interesting to try and make my own “clay” by mixing all the clays I use – all the clay that has been dried and not usable. I’m planning on making test tiles first to make sure that the clay body I make won’t melt or do anything crazy in the kiln.

I also submitted some artwork to juries show so I am excited about that! Not so excited because that also means I’d have to reinstall my bug installation and I’m not looking forward to that…

Week 12

I think this is week 12, I’m not sure anymore. I spent of this week making my display “pedestal” for the senior group show at Tim Faulkner gallery. I’ve never really worked with wood before however, I enjoyed the process of constructing this display. I’m honestly excited to continue working with wood and so pleased with the outcome. The only thing that stressed me out the most was how I was going to paint/stain it. I’m so thankful with all the advice I received for this! I’m still surprised it worked, I didn’t have any major mess ups (I don’t think I did at all). I was prepared with some extra wood planks in case I did mess up and everything. It also didn’t break down on the way to set up for the gallery.

As far as the show went, we had a great turnout and it was so fun. I had a few good friends show up and it was just a great positive environment that day. I was nervous with how people would take my piece but the reaction was a lot more than I could’ve asked for. I don’t always feel confident with my work but, I think I’m getting better with that.