Nick's Final Blog

- Become familiar with web logging in order to work on expression and observation. Also, the biographical questionnaire helped Wayne and Mahlon get a grasp on the class character.
- Make objects that correspond to a list of 40 words. A practice of understanding concept and arrival.
- One class was dedicated to making one object with a small amount of clay. This class was to teach focus and attention to detail.
- Drawings from 4 objects made from the manipulations project. Drawing is an integral part of an artist work as we learned from watching Maya Lin's video.
- Visit the Fosdick to see Wayne's piece after reading his essay and then posting a question on the blog.
- Use the 12x12 drawing to form a sculpture keeping symmetry and asymmetry in mind. This project helped with drafting a project and seeing how to work within confines of building with coils. Also, the manipulations project helped look at the artist’s process in forming a body of work that is cohesive.
- Build a housing unit for the 40 manipulations that we did. The housing work put the small figures into a new environment with the intentions of altering the perceptions of the small objects through installation.
- Handbuild a perfect box from slabs. This project helped focus on precision.
- Build a site or “pedestal” to work with the box. Figured out how to make one object seem heavy or light
- Using one manmade and one natural object connect the object and make a solid sculpture from them. This project helped feed off concept. Definitely, one of the harder projects.
- We then had to make a mold of the sculpture and press mold 8 of them. This helped me work with plaster and reassembly. We then had to make one sculpture using the press mold parts that was different form the original. We then raku fired these as well as used other materials to cover the surface and looked at how they enhanced or changed the piece.
- The last assignment was to break everything and reassemble it. After it was assembled into a new sculpture we had to address the surface.
- Finally, I am writing the last blog assignment.

The worst thing that happened to me during this semester in the ceramics studio was pouring the dry mix of the ^04 gloss glaze into the bucket of water and then realizing it was too watered down. While the gerstley sub may have played a part, the glaze was way to thin to build up a sufficient layer of glaze. I felt bad that the other students’ work turned out differently than they had planned. I guess I’ll stick to precision weighing of everything, especially in large batches.

I thoroughly enjoyed drinking tea during the critiques. It was great seeing Wayne get in the raku groove. I was glad that I was able to look past the idea that I had to have concrete sculptures out of every project. The class became very process oriented for me and I was able to explore many different methods of working towards arrival without worrying what the outcome would be. I learned to think less and work more.

The final project was exciting for me because I'd never worked with hot glue, because I wasn't in foundations. It is a great material. I was able to build sculptures out of objects that I more than willingly smashed(so satisfying, even if i liked the sculptures; its just mud). Unfortunately, my forms ended up looking like animals, maybe even birds as some suggested. It was then pointed out that the project title was the Pheonix project. I was completely unaware, perhaps it was buried in my unconscious. Astonishingly my two final forms echoed ideas that I'd pursued in my four elements project...