Oh senior Eddie Ponce, look how many pix I took of your piece, two, only took one of Stella's :). And whose am I featuring first?? YOURS!!! LOL
As a ceramics teacher it's all about surface design. Your clay piece is simply your canvas. So in first year clay the kids learn at least 10 different ways to bring texture, pattern and bas relief to their plastic and leatherhard clay surfaces. Then when we move into 2nd year clay we do even more to explore the endless possibilities One of my favorites to do and teach is mishima and sgraffito. One is an inlay technique, the other a coat and scrap thru effect. In both I have the kids mix up colored clay slip to use for both processes. I also have them working with porcelain clay so it really shows these methods off.
Senior Eddie Ponce started off by laying his rolled out slab over top a wood frame mold, then pressing gently thru the center to create the concave area (perfect size for a soap dish). Notice that he tore his edges, did some stamping, then thru the center is his sgraffito work and the mishima is inlayed around his rim. I'm sure you noticed the crack in the piece, it happened during the bisque firing, but Eddie liked it, how it's running thru the word love. Below is the backside of his bowl with his applied foot. Very clean, cool piece Eddie.
This next one is senior Stella Park's. She switched her techniques around and has her inlay in the center text area and her scrapped away lines on her rim. I love Stella's sensitive interpretation of the assignment and the content as well. I also encourage the students to alter their rim edges for more interest.
Last is senior Rita Labib, whose piece broke as it was drying in the greenware stage. She was ready to throw it away but I told her to try to reconfigure it and reattach it in some clever way. The result, a highly unique piece, with some beautiful glazing going on. You can see Rita's inlayed mishima along her rims, but I believe her choice of glazes covered up her sgraffito thru her center areas. Oh well. :)
If you are like me and love adding to your art book collection, there are lots of great ceramic surface design books on the market. Barnes and Noble stock many good ones as does Aardvark Clay and Supplies in Santa Ana, Ca. Have fun exploring the possibilities!
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