Here's a couple of bowls I did in class right before Mardi Gras. It's regular white clay with seafoam glaze on the inside and pecan outside. I mainly wanted to test out this color combination. I love these colors together. The seafoam has a vastly different color and texture than when I used it before in combination with the aubergine.
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This is also an example of what can frequently happen when you don't get to handle every single step of the process yourself. (The students take no part in the firings in my class.) Apparently, sometimes bits of the glaze gets knocked off in the handling and it leaves little bare spots with no glaze at all. (Notice the bare spots on the rims.) Sometimes, your bowls may even get cracked chipped or if you're lucky, just warped a little. When I voice my opinion on this I get told, "It's only clay."
What do you think of that?
That statement get's my dander up. Yes it's only clay (actually clay is the sticky stuff in a bag before someone's hands mold it into something). After I spend a lot of time and thought on a piece to me it's then more than clay. I consider each a progressional part in my life's work. I keep my pieces in a cabinet separate from everyone else's and I carry each out to the kiln myself and place them in. To some it may be only clay, but each piece is a milestone in my learning process and I want to know if a flaw is something I did wrong and need to correct or something which happened to the piece and I had no control over. That way I know if I should keep trying or move on to the next project or process. Oh, I've gone round and round in my class on many topics.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by Linda. I totally agree with you. Additionally, if you factor in the cost of the clay and the cost of the class it seems a bit cavalier of an attitude for them to have. They are wonderful in every other way but I have to admit it does upset me when I get pieces back that are damaged (or my porcelain pieces are smudged with brown fingerprints). Two classes ago I got back two bisque fired bowls that were warped in the handling. Then the instructor accidentally punched through the bottom of another bowl while showing me a trimming technique. Oy, that was a bad day.
ReplyDeleteI did get over it, of course. I just remind myself how much I enjoy the company of my classmates and how much my classes, in general, have fulfilled my life. I have to stay balanced about it.
Bummer - I take offense at a statement such as the one you relayed! I highly recommend investing in a kiln when the opportunity presents itself. There's nothing like taking responsibility for firing one's own work let alone other's. I know when something goes wrong, that it's my fault and no one else's.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a member at an un-named art studio, I heard the kiln manager say, "it's only student work" - I cringed because student work is just as precious as anyone else's.
Cynthia, I'm working on it.
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