Project Update!

I have almost finished my projects. My Sarah-inspired pieces are bisque fired and i think I'm gonna wait until november to wood-fire it. I decided this not only because i love the wood-fired look, but also because, the more and more i look at it, the more i think it looks like a cupcake. and this is sort of bothering me for some reason. I like the feminine look of my pieces but i think this one is almost TOO feminine. it just screams "A GIRL MADE THIS" everytime you look at it. The wood fired look might make people think otherwise when they look at it. i dont know, maybe im just being too critical of it. but i don't want to make pieces that look like they should go in a little girls room, so im gonna go with a rustic look for the glaze instead of a colorful look like someone might expect me to.
As for the shocking art piece, I am done with it, i just need to find a way to mount it onto its base. I made a baby doll look really slutty and kinda r-rated. She has skanky clothes, a stuffed bra, which i intentionally made obvious, and sloppy makeup. Im gonna put a cigarette in her mouth if i can find access to one, and i am setting up a little group of action figures/ken doll wanna-bes that are gonna be kinda checking her out in the background. one of them is gonna be holding a condom behind his back. I like the fact that it's making a statement on kids growing up too fast and it's made out of toys. i think it will make people really look at it and make their own assumption on what that means for them. I'm pretty happy about how my projects turned out. I will post pictures when they're done.

Making Progress....

Here is my newest project, drying and then ready to be bisque-fired. I'm actually QUITE pleased with the way it turned out. i am a huge fan of very organic figures such as this one, and i guess you could say my style is a little organic and feminine, almost scrap-booky, for lack of a better word. and thanks to sarah, our guest artist, i was inspired to complete that look with the rounded feet at the bottom. she also gave me the idea for the lid, which i made by attaching a slab to the top of the conjoined thrown tubes, and then cut off with toggle cutters. then i attached a coil to the inside and kind of pulled and pushed it to make a seat for the lid. and i added a little of my own style to it with the handle, which i tried to also keep very organic and feminine. And to tie it all together, and also add an element of 3D design....I carved in the stripes with a ruler and a trimming tool. Im super excited for this one.
As for the "shocking art" project, i decided to go with the theme that kids are growing up too fast these days, mostly girls. I bought a doll from value village today and am planning to make a little slutty outfit for it. im gonna have some toilet paper sticking out to show that she stuffed her bra, then maybe some high heels and makeup. the doll has a complete baby face, so the young age is still apparent. im gonna somehow mount it onto a board of somekind. and behind the doll, i will mount some action-figure guys of various sizes kind of checking her out.....(the action figure guys, although smaller in actual size, are obviously older.) i think this is gonna be kind of a challenging project for me for a few different reasons. i have to make the clothes, find some way to mount the dolls. and adjust their positions to show some emotion/attitude, and then try to keep their pose that way. However, I'm excited to go start it, which is what im gonna do after im done writing my blog. :)

Shocking Art

We got assigned a project called "Shocking art" this past week. It is supposed to be a 3D piece that is controversial or "shocking." I've been struggling with different ideas and images but i have come down to a couple topics. the first one is young love. like way-too-young love. i have a couple sketches and ideas for materials. the first is a sculpture of a boy and a girl kissing. a boy and a girl that are like 10-12 years old. the boy would be made out of/covered in condom wrappers and/or cigarette boxes to show his influence and drive to becoming so sexual at a young age....which is his desire to be "cool." the girl would be wrapped in magazine ads from cosmo, seventeen, playboy etc. to show her influence from the media and from other these other "sexy" things which created her desire to be hot and sexy. this is one idea to present the idea of kids growing up too fast these days. the only thing thats stopping me from doing that is that im wondering what i would make the sculpture out of (underneath the magazine ads, condoms, etc.) and also, it might be difficult to show their age.
Another topic im considering is the idea in psychology that children have a kind of unspoken secret sexual attraction to their parent of the opposite sex. so the piece would be a sculpture of a woman breast feeding her 1-year old son, and her sons hand is fondling her other breast while feeding from the other. a couple things I'm not sure about for this idea is...will it be school-appropriate? (a really annoying obstacle,) and....what will i make it out of. i have never tried making figures out of clay before but my only problem with that is that it is due on the 30th so that may not be enough time to make it out of clay. i think the 2nd idea is my favorite though. give me feedback!!!

AP 3D RETREAT!

I would say the biggest thing I have gained from this retreat, (and I'm sure everyone else would agree,) was a good relationship with everyone else in the class. I feel like we are all together on the same page now and after our bonding time, not ONE person feels left out or alone. And my favorite thing about that was that we didn't need Amy or any other adult to oversee our activities to make sure everyone was involved. (Referring to our game after she went to sleep.) I guess that should come naturally, but being in a high-school community full of cliques your whole life, makes that kind of a rare thing. But I felt like we all really enjoyed each other and made some great memories. And as far as an art class/group goes, i think that is very important. we are going to need to be very honest with each other while at the same time, not being afraid to hurt each other's feelings, or take something that someone else said offensively. We also need to be confident enough in front of each other to be able to say any ideas or thoughts that come to mind, and also trusting enough to take some of these inputs into action. Nonetheless, we're off to an amazing start.
Art-wise, i feel like i have gained a lot of inspiration and motivation from this retreat, especially the guest Artist who came to visit. I had some things in common with her; for instance, she hates trimming. so she gave me a lot of cool ideas to work from for alternatives to trimming. I think it's very helpful and motivating to watch guest artists every once in a while because, every time i have, it has made me feel a little better about my art work when i hear about the problems they encounter as professional potters, which are usually ones that i encounter as well, and get very frustrated with. So it makes me a little less stressed out about it. Over all, the retreat was a complete success and made for a great time and a great start to the year. I'm super excited for this class!

andy goldsworthy-inspired sculpture #3

my third miniature sculpture was made of wildflowers and berries. it only took about 5 minutes to make.(besides picking the berries and flowers). i think its cute but the leaf on the top of the picture, in the berries bugs me everytime i look at it. for some reason i didnt notice that when i took the picture. i like the location of this one though because of the contrast between the rocks and the flowers. and i like the simplicity of it as well.

Andy Goldsworthy-inspired sculpture #2

My main Andy Goldsworthy-inspired sculpture was this one above. most of the time it took to make it was from picking berries, gathering rocks and pulling grass. i like the way it turned out. it turned out almost exactly how i envisioned it and drew it in my sketchbook. however, if i could change something about it, it would be where i made it. i didnt think about the location too much but now im realizing that it could've made a difference.

Andy Goldsworthy sculpture #1

This was one of my first little sculptures inspired by Andy Goldsworthy. It was made of twigs and berries. it was orginally supposed to be bigger but i had a problem trying to get the berries to support the twigs, and then when i tried to use smaller twigs, the twigs themselves weren't strong enough to support the berries. so i made it as tall as i could.