The Baby's Sleeping
Glazed Ceramic
10" x 6" x 2"
Reflection Statement
The ceramic sculpture entitled The Baby’s Sleeping was inspired by Beth Cavener’s sculpture The Inquisitors (2004) and a poem entitled The Two-Headed Calf by Laura Gilpin. My intent was to visually communicate the quiet moments after the two-headed calf is born, as it sleeps peacefully beneath the night sky. The line from the poem, “there were twice as many stars as usual,” inspired me to include a star pattern on the calf. I began the sculpture planning to use the subtractive method, and ultimately I did, but to get the basic shape I smushed the clay into the shape I wanted before carving details with the subtractive method. Initially, I wanted to have the heads angled upwards, but the pose seemed awkward and it would have been difficult to support the heavy heads while it dried. I also considered including the calf’s limbs, but I ended up simplifying the shape because I was concerned about the limbs breaking off. I wanted to focus on tenderness for this sculpture. I spent a while working on the faces and the closed eyes to create a peaceful expression. The outcome of the glaze on this piece was not exactly what I hoped it would be, but I am not unhappy with it. The experience taught me to test my glazes more thoroughly before applying them to a large and important piece. Through making this piece, I learned how helpful printing out reference photos can be. I worked with several photos of calves to look at to make the piece look more realistic. I will be continuing to use printed references for all my animal sculptures. I want to keep exploring animal sculptures in the future. I would like to learn more about animal anatomy as I work on more accurate sculptures of animals.
Foreground, March of the Oms
Background, to the right, Stop Watering Your Lawn
Reflection Statement
The ceramic sculpture entitled March of the Oms was inspired by one of my favorite films, Fantastic Planet (1973). A scene in the film depicts the tiny Oms climbing over a mysterious alien head, half-buried in the ground. I wanted to visually communicate the movement and ritual in that scene. I used the subtractive method for this piece, first shaping a large rounded shape and then carving out the details I wanted. The ears on the alien head were attached after I finished shaping the head. I felt the work was lacking a sense of environment so I added a tree for the figures to interact with. All the tiny figures complicated the creation process. They were too small to be glazed, so I had to use yellow nail polish instead. Even nail polishing them was tedious and didn’t turn out exactly how I wanted. It was difficult to get an even layer and the figures and nail polish stuck to my fingers. Despite the difficulties I had, I am still satisfied with the piece because I mostly wanted to play with scale and create an environment. I would like to keep exploring sculptures inspired by films I like. I enjoy translating one art form into another. This piece allowed me to explore a more environmental and less figurative style of sculpture, which I enjoyed. Through making this piece, I learned to take glazing into account when I make small components for my ceramic sculptures.
Reflection Statement
The ceramic sculpture entitled Stop Watering Your Lawn was inspired by manatee conservation. The fertilizer most people use on their lawns often ends up in Florida waterways, creating algae growth that significantly decreases the amount of seagrass in our lakes and rivers. Manatees rely on seagrass as their primary food source, so they are being directly impacted by the pristine green lawns that fill our neighborhoods. So for this piece, my intent was to visually communicate the effect that lawn runoff has on manatee habitat and population. I wanted to include little houses and a manatee figure and as the idea developed I decided to make a bowl as the environment the houses and manatee lived in. The sides of the bowl created a “lawn” where water could run down into the bottom of the bowl to where the manatee was, visually creating the sense of “run-off.” I have used the simple house design in many other pieces of mine across several mediums, so I was excited to work with it again for this piece. I wanted to focus on the manatee’s face, hoping to create an empathetic and lifelike creature. I learned from my mistakes with March of the Oms and made the little houses big enough to be glaze-fired. It was still very tedious and tricky to stilt them, but they turned out pretty well. I want to keep exploring conservation pieces and especially Florida wildlife pieces. This piece allowed me to further explore my interest in sculpting animals. The making of this work exposed me to wheel-throwing, which was a real challenge and I needed a lot of help to make the bowl. Through making this piece, I learned how to trim on the wheel. The process makes me want to keep trying the wheel so I can make more pieces that incorporate semi-functional wares into my art.
Eyes/Rubble
Glazed Ceramic
Largest piece 8" x 4" x 2.5"
Reflection Statement
The ceramic sculpture entitled Eyes/Rubble was inspired by an excerpt from the book All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. My intent was to visually communicate the relationship between the blind girl and her city. I wanted to focus on the eyes because they illustrate her blindness. Eyes are also a common motif in my art. I referenced a previous sculpture of mine for the shape and style of the eyes in this piece, but those eyes were much smaller than the eyes for this piece. It was fun to revisit the same motif on a larger scale in a different medium. I decided to include abstract spiky shapes to create rubble to assemble around the eyes. I felt that the work would be lacking harmony if I used white for the eyes, so I used periwinkle on the eyes instead. The light blue of the periwinkle played off of the blueish sheen in the slate glaze on the base of the eyes and the city rubble. Once again, I made tiny components, which made it hard for me to glaze-fire. The rubble took such a long time to stilt, but I am very happy with the result. Another issue I ran into was the wobbling of the eye-domes on top of the bases, but after glazing and assembling it all, it wasn’t a serious issue. In the future, I would like to pay more attention to creating a stable piece by trimming and sanding before I bisque fire. It was fun to make a more abstract piece this time. I want to keep exploring less representational work. I didn’t have much investment in this piece when I started it, but it ended up being one of my favorites.
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