This week was my seventh week of my internship. I practiced trimming on Tuesday and destroyed all but one of my pieces. The one that made it was the small tea mug I made and I was not too excited about how it turned out. Nevertheless, I got to practice trimming and experience a very important part of pottery: failure. I was pretty discouraged by how trimming went overall but took the opportunity to reflect on ways I would like to grow. After a disappointing time of trimming I decided to have some fun. I tried to throw a plate without any lesson. Then I decided to throw a bowl without stopping the wheel from start to finish!
Friday morning my family met Patti at the Minneapolis Institute of Art for a tour of their ceramics collection. We did the speed version since Shiloh was with us and has a short attention span. He really enjoyed the ceramics and we did too! I was fascinated to see ceramics from thousands of years ago made with essentially the same elements that I am learning to create with. I am thrilled to be learning a craft that has been around for such a long time. We viewed the collection in chronological order. What a visual lesson of the 'evolution' of pottery as craft and art. By the time we made it to the contemporary/modern section I was overwhelmed with ideas.
When we got back to the Olsons' Patti gave me a demonstration of plates and tall vases. She told me that vases are really fun to make but she does not make very many because, 'How many vases does a person really need?" Nonetheless, she made a vase and then played with it changing its shape with simple movements of her fingers or hand. The final shape imitated vases we saw from thousands of years ago in China.
With that, I wedged four balls of three pounds of clay each. I threw a plate and then a tall vase. The top of the vase got wobbly and I cut several inches off. I decided to keep playing and ended up making a nice vase (see picture at top). I was so excited to recover the clay and make my first vase that I took a small break. I threw another vase (the bellied out one) and then showed Dana and Shiloh how to throw a plate. To conclude my time this week I got to clean the wheel, splatter guard, tools and put my pieces away. These are all things that I knew needed to be done at the end of each session but Patti usually throws when I leave. She did not want to send me to my dad with such bad studio habits! hahaha!
I really enjoy plates and vases. The tallest I got my vases Friday was about 6 inches. I am going to throw more on Tuesday with the same amount of clay. My goal is to throw a vase that is between 7 and 8 inches. I have one more month with Patti before we head on our road trip. I will spend around a month with my dad and then come back to Minneapolis. I am not sure what my internship with Patti will look like after March. I hope to be able to continue learning, practicing and growing in pottery one way or another. Peace
No comments:
Post a Comment