art every day

Art Every Day 2.0 | A Fresh Start | Clay Peony

Since I graduated from UMW in May I began a graduate program in Art Therapy.

This is very exciting for me.

With this program I will be making a lot of art, and reading a SHIT TON of books, articles, and all that jazz.  Sooooo I thought I would re-start my Art Every Day via school stuff.  Some of it will be visual journaling, some in class exercises, and then just some miscellaneous stuff.

Sounds good right?

Right.

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This is something I worked on in my Process and Materials class.  It is clay.  We were working through sensory art making, so this piece was done with my eyes closed, with no preconceived notion of what it might become.

When I opened my eyes and looked at it I immediately thought of a peony. 

My favorite flower.

While I was working with the clay a flower was the last thing on my mind.  In fact, my mind was wandering through things that need to be read, clothes that needed to be dropped at the cleaners, toothpaste that needs to be bought...flowers?  Nope, but it didn't take my mind more than a split second to see a flower.

That seems like a good sign.

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Flowers... are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world. 

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

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I proceeded to smash and smush this into a few other shapes before retiring the ball of clay back to the pile. 

This was all about the process.

Art Every Day 2.0 | Ceramic Bottle Sculpture 7 of 7

Finally able to give back again, fruit appears. 

The journey of this little tree and its seed has come full circle.

 

I loooove pears, something about the shapes, colors, varieties, love.  Also my wonderful friends' parents threw M- and I an ammmazing engagement party, and the invitations and little favors said "Aren't they a great pair?" with of course pears.  Lots of wine and pears. Lots of wine. and pears.

 

 

 

 

I love the way the blue really melts into the background.

 

 

I'm really happy with how this bottle turned out, the colors are just as brilliant as when I put them on, the glaze is crazed and beautiful, and the white, unglazed, slipped areas are pristine. 

This project was a real learning experience for me.  I handbuilt each ceramic bottle, and then the idea of turning them into a narrative was challenging and fun.

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You can see the first ceramic bottle in the series here.

You can see the second ceramic bottle in the series here.

You can see the third ceramic bottle in there series here.

You can see the fourth ceramic bottle in the series here.

You can see the fifth ceramic bottle in the series here.

You can see the sixth ceramic bottle in the series here.

You can see the seventh ceramic bottle in the series here.

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What did you make today?

Art Every Day 2.0 | Ceramic Bottle Sculpture 6 of 7

Take some rain, add a little sunshine, and what do you get?  A flowering tree.

 

 

As excited as I was to see this bottle after the firing, I was a little disappointed in the end.  The watercolor underglazes really disappeared more than on some of the other bottles.  I really like how the watercolor underglazes looked and how easy they were to work with, but the results were spotty at best.

 

 

 

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You can see the first ceramic bottle in the series here.

You can see the second ceramic bottle in the series here.

You can see the third ceramic bottle in there series here.

You can see the fourth ceramic bottle in the series here.

You can see the fifth ceramic bottle in the series here.

You can see the sixth ceramic bottle in the series here.

You can see the seventh ceramic bottle in the series here.

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What did you make today?

 

Art Every Day 2.0 | Ceramic Bottle Sculpture 5 of 7

Sun after the rain, growth begins, ceramic bottle

 

 

Loooove that gooey, drippy, glaze on the front of the tree trunk there!

 

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You can see the first ceramic bottle in the series here.

You can see the second ceramic bottle in the series here.

You can see the third ceramic bottle in there series here.

You can see the fourth ceramic bottle in the series here.

You can see the fifth ceramic bottle in the series here.

You can see the sixth ceramic bottle in the series here.

You can see the seventh ceramic bottle in the series here.

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What did you make today?

Art Every Day 2.0 | Ceramic Bottle Sculpture 4 of 7

parting clouds after the storm-- this may be my favorite.

 

 

 

 

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You can see the first ceramic bottle in the series here.

You can see the second ceramic bottle in the series here.

You can see the third ceramic bottle in there series here.

You can see the fourth ceramic bottle in the series here.

You can see the fifth ceramic bottle in the series here.

You can see the sixth ceramic bottle in the series here.

You can see the seventh ceramic bottle in the series here.

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What did you make today?

Art Every Day 2.0 | Ceramic Bottle Sculpture 3 of 7

This is the third of seven ceramic bottles I made last semester. 

The project was a sculptural narrative.

"Crying" ceramic bottle.

 

 

 

 

I just love the juciness of the glaze on this bottle, the bit of running some of the water droplets are doing, and the awesome craze in the clear glaze.

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You can see the first ceramic bottle in the series here.

You can see the second ceramic bottle in the series here.

You can see the third ceramic bottle in there series here.

You can see the fourth ceramic bottle in the series here.

You can see the fifth ceramic bottle in the series here.

You can see the sixth ceramic bottle in the series here.

You can see the seventh ceramic bottle in the series here.

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What Did You Make Today?

Art Every Day 2.0 | Ceramic Bottle Sculpture 2 of 7

This is the second of seven ceramic bottles I made last semester. 

The project was a sculptural narrative.

This is the trauma.

 

 

The tree has been chopped down.  All that remains is a seed...of hope.

 

 

Please excuse the broken axe.  During transit from school to home the axe handle snapped off.  I haven't gotten to fix it yet.

 

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You can see the first ceramic bottle in the series here.

You can see the second ceramic bottle in the series here.

You can see the third ceramic bottle in there series here.

You can see the fourth ceramic bottle in the series here.

You can see the fifth ceramic bottle in the series here.

You can see the sixth ceramic bottle in the series here.

You can see the seventh ceramic bottle in the series here.

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What did you make today?

Art Every Day 2.0 | Ceramic Bottle Sculpture 1 of 7

Over the next week or so I'd like to show you the ceramic bottle sculptures I made last semester.  We had to do a narrative sculpture.  I decided to do a series involving trauma, rebirth and healing.

Here is the first of seven ceramic bottles.

 

 

I chose the shape of a bottle, because it is a vessel that refernces the human form.  I hand built the bottles and tried to give them a child-like quality to them, kind of like a story book feel.

 

 

The bottles were slipped white, then I used watercolor underglazes, and hand dipped with clear glaze.  I was a little disappointed with the colors, I did a few tests and liked the results, but in the end the colors came out a lot less vibrant than my tests.

 

 

 

While these ceramic bottles were being hand dipped I left part of the base free of glaze.  I love the difference in texture, gloss, and even color.

 

I'd love to hear your thoughts!  These are from my second ceramic class ever, so I'm proud I was able to complete a narrative in an effective way, still working on my technical skills and craftmanship.

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You can see the first ceramic bottle in the series here.

You can see the second ceramic bottle in the series here.

You can see the third ceramic bottle in there series here.

You can see the fourth ceramic bottle in the series here.

You can see the fifth ceramic bottle in the series here.

You can see the sixth ceramic bottle in the series here.

You can see the seventh ceramic bottle in the series here.

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What Did You Make Today?