Ceramics

Today was my ceramics final. We went through the class and critiqued everyone's work sprawled out over the room.

I basically lived in the ceramics studio this semester. I might as well have set up a tent and slept in there too. At times I questioned my sanity, but now looking over my work, I am pleased. I feel like have a few very strong pieces that I might actually want to set out instead of wrapping up in newspaper, never to see the light of day again.

The thing about ceramics is this: There are so many opportunities to screw up. There are so many stages, steps, considerations, mishaps, unknowns, uncontrollable factors, that when you get something good that makes it through the final glaze firing, you'd better hold onto it for dear life (and not drop it on the way over to your shelf).

Now I can make tea in my teapot, dinner in my casserole dish, hot chocolate in my mugs, cereal in my bowls, and lemonade in my pitcher. I can stick flowers in my vases, candy in my jars, and paperclips in everything else...except for the sculptures...they can, um, sit on the mantel and look pretty. What fun.

Made of Steel...and Clay

Who knew Pittsburgh isn't so bad? -kind of cool actually. My first impression of Pittsburgh has changed. As in the difference between Kennywood and the city center. Yeah, downtown is much better.

I happened to be in Pittsburgh this past week for an NCECA conference (The National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts). I have endless things to say about it, but I know I must limit myself. There were amazing demonstrations, lectures, galleries, shows, vendors, the who's who of ceramic art, and so much more. I am impressed by level of work I saw, and I am impressed by how the medium can be stretched (pun intended). I saw some stuff done in clay that certainly did not look like clay or did not look like clay could possibly do that.

From my time at NCECA, I am inspired to create better work myself. I guess you could say, "I can't wait to get my hands dirty" ha ha (another corny pun intended).

Ceramics

My ceramics class this semester was so much fun. We got to make all kinds of cool stuff, and at one point I felt like I lived in that studio. Too bad a lot of my glazes went crazy and turned nice pieces into kinda ugly ones. That's the thing; you spend so much time loving your artwork, and then one detail goes wrong to destroy it. Plus you can't help thinking, gee, I could buy a teapot for a lot less than it took to buy the supplies, design it, build it, fire it, and glaze it.

Oh well, art is all about the love.