Empty Bowls Flyer

I did it! It's in the window of the Tangles salon!

mini udu

so my bong.. i mean second udu drum is done. And I used the piece of palm tree bark that kenzi gave me to paint it with. I think it's pretty cool, and much of an improvement from the last one!

first udu drum

In a great rush, I completed the first udu drum. It's not very good. It ended up being waaayyy too big, and it's off-center. Also, the holes at the top and in the middle of the pot are supposed to be small enought that they can be easily covered by a hand... Maybe the holes on this pot are small enough for a giant to cover them easily. This was really the trial pot, and for a first attempt, I guess I'm happy with it. I probably will not include it in my portfolio but that depends on how all the rest of them turn out.

It's Official.

After doing further research of coiling methods, I have OFFICIALLY decided to completely change my concentration. Instead of doing coiled planters with different textures (which was a totally lame idea), my concentration will be the udu drum. It's a type of drum that is made originally in Nigeria by women who use the pinch coil method. There are many different ways that these drums can be made, and I think it's a perfect idea for my concentration. I'm really excited to start working on it.... and I'm going to have to work fast since 2 projects are due in like a week -__-

After seeing photos of the amazing artwork by Wendy Hoare, it's making me analyze my work even more than usual. In class, Amy showed me a magazine that fearured some of Wendy's work, and as I was working on my piece and looking back and forth between the photos and my piece, I started to not like what I was working on. I feel that I am doubting myself as an artist, and I need to realize that Wendy has probably been developing her idea for many years, whereas I have only been working on it for a little while. Maybe in a few years, I can develop my ideas to the point that they are as perfected and as awesome as hers :)

I keep constantly thinking about my concentration, and every time I decide on an idea, I end up deciding it's not good enough or I just don't like it. After doing a little more research, I discovered this technique for placing designs of leaves on pots. I don't want to do an entire concentration on it, but I do want to find some way to incorporate it into my concentration which I'm pretty sure will be something like differently textured coil planters.
This is what it looks like though...

Concentration

I'm quickly realizing that chosing a concentration is not easy. There are way too many things that I still want to try in ceramics that I don't feel like I'm really ready to create a million of the same thing. But I have a ton of ideas...
These are just images I found from googling coil pots that really inspired me for some of my possible concentration options.

Completed Family Project!

Basically, after way too many days of staying after school and working until I was falling apart, I finished my family project. The five huge coil pots are done, and I have to admit that I actually could use a break from coils. As I progressed through the project, I realized that I was putting less and less love into each pot because I was getting bored of coiling. So, the first and second pots that I made definitely turned out better than the last couple. (a lot better actually... I almost want to try and remake the last one or something) But here are the five completed pots to the greenware stage:

Guest Artist Supplies

This amazing person named LEXIE WILKINSON was referred to the Rebuild it store in Portland over the summer, and I'm so happy she made me go with her because we went there today. I got this entire drawer full of knick-knacks for $10 and I would have paid a million at home depot. So, thank you Lexie for making me go with you to the junk store :)
Here's my drawer...

Family project progess

So I've been coiling like crazy, and believe it or not I'm actually getting a little tired of it... but just a little. It's been going really good, and the parts that I've completed have turned out well. I'm excited to see what it's going to look like when I'm done with all five pots.
These are the three I've done so far...

Progress on family project

this is the beginning of the first, biggest pot:

Family Project

This family project sounds really open-ended, and so, I'm going to take this opportunity to make what I want :) My plan is to make five coil pots similar in shape to the photo I posted on my last post- the bottle by Jim Lux. However, they are going to be considered vases in my book, have a slightly different shape, and be finished at the top. So, it won't look like the opening at the top of the vase was ripped off or something. But anyway, the five vases will be representative of my family. One will represent my mom, another me, and the other three will represent my three dogs: Missy, Maxie, and Lemon.
The one representing my mother will be the largest, then mine will be the next biggest, and the three representing my dogs will be smaller than mine but all the same size-eventhough my dogs aren't all the same size. It will be a nice little family of pots, and I'm excited to get working hard on it.

picture for "wants"

I want to make something like this. It's super cool, and I think it will be a good challenge.

wants

I want to make something out of coils. I want to make something that is happy so I won't cry in front of everybody again. Shout out to Amy, please assign something I can make out of coils :)

more shocking art.

I made my project. After a giant mess, and way too many hours of working on it, I got it done. To be honest, it's not exactly my favorite. It sends a clear message, but I don't know how shocking it is...Also, I only made one lung. I ended up cutting the styrofoam wrong, so I just went with it. My mom has one big mass in one of her lungs where the cancer began. I guess it makes it more significant because it really only took one lung to change my mom's life. So that made it more personal. But, I wish i could have found a way to make the lung look really gross and like really realistic, or I wish that it would have looked really not realistic. It just looks like both.... Like I kinda tried to make it look realistic, but it just turned out like a black blob that could be mistaken as a rock. I just feel that it doesn't look intentional, and had it been one of those extremes, it would have turned out better. Also, I decided to add a picture of my mom on the lung to make the piece more personal. As I was sticking the picture on, I had the thought that I should have put the picture in the spot where the cancer originated, but it was too late. :( Anyway... that's it.

Shocking Art!

When I heard that we had to make a piece of shocking art as our first project, I had no idea what I was going to do. It's not my typical thing that I would create or even attempt to create. I was a little overwhelmed when I tried to think of something I could do.
Then I started thinking about controversial subjects that I feel strongly about, and after a good discussion sesh with Lexie, ideas just started flowing out of me. The concept itself isn't really controversial, but it will definitely cause some double-takes and turning heads. It's the concept of how smoking affects one's lungs. My mom has lung cancer because twentyfive years ago she smoked for tweleve years.
She was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer almost year ago, and the doctors told her the average person diagnosed lives about eighteen months. Since last November, when she was diagnosed, my life has a lot. Not only that, but my outlook on life is so different. I hope that through this piece, I can send a message that smoking is bad for you, and that it's bad enough to change someones entire life. And it doesn't just change life for that one person, but it also affects everyone who cares for that person.

So here's what I've sketched out... and it's not supposed to be sideways... :)

Jim Lux

So one of the artists I've decided to follow is Jim Lux. Last year, in the advanced class, we did a project called "after the masters," and I chose to emulate Jim Lux in my project. I chose to follow him because he works with coils, and he makes really awesome pots. Last year, when I chose to emulate his work in my own, was the first time I decided to work with coils, and since then I've really started to develop my own style through coils. So, I guess I chose him as one of my artists because he really set me up for what I'm becoming as an artist now. Also, I would like to experiment more with trying to sort-of combine his style with my own. I liked how it turned out the first time, so I don't see why I wouldn't try again.

Retreat!!

So, this weekend was fun. Not only did I learn lots about art, I also learned a lot about my fellow AP artists. The only part of the trip that was not very fun or I should say was difficult for me was thinking outside the box in more ways than one. It takes me a long time to make friends who I know will always be there for me. I guess it was hard for me to expand my brain past the restrictions of my social box. However, at the retreat this weekend i feel that i gave people a glimpse into my life, and everybody was really nice and accepting of me and who I am. Everybody was really nice to everybody on this trip, and i honestly had a much better time than I had expected to have.
Another way I felt that I couldn't think outside the box, or should I say outside the tube, was when we had to make something out of those stupid tubes. I would get an awesome idea in my head that was totally INDIVIDUAL, but then when I tried to execute it, it just failed quite miserably. I finally made the decision, kind of like Sarah, to stop trying so hard to be somewhat original, and I basically copied her little feet thing, but I tried to let my style naturally show through in the piece. I feel like when it's done it'll look somewhat like something I would make. Although, I most likely will stick to my coils as much as I can, and I'll probably try to avoid tubes.
It was also difficult for me to accept the fact that I was going to have to make something completely nonfunctional and nonrepresentational. After showing Amy my photo of my original nature sculpture thing, I basically just let go of the idea of making something so it could be something, and i accepted the concept of making something to just let it BE... let it speak for itself even if it's not really anything. I eneded up really liking my final product, and it looked like something my brain would think up. Overall, I learned a lot on the retreat, and I had a great time.