Working Larger then Life

COIL POT FIGURE SCULPTURES

CERAMICS II

clay, oxides and glaze

Because this is a second year class and we do a semester of handbuilding, I like to revisit coil structures.

I also feel it's very important for my students to explore the human form.

So I give the kids a choice of working Realistically or a bit more Abstractly.

I think most of the kids go for Realism at first but end up abstracting a bit more as they reach the top.

Another choice is do you leave the coils showing or do you smooth them out.

Here in this first work senior Shamara Mustafa is smoothing out the outside but choosing to leave the coils showing on the inside.

I feel she's done a tremendous job building out the pelvis bones as well as pushing the clay to it's limit in the rear.

When handbuilding with coils that's very difficult to do those bulbous curves and not have them collapse on you.

I especially love how she finished the piece off by decorating with ceramic oxide pencils, then transparent glaze over top to show off that work.

Next we have senior Carol Oh's powerful figure sculpture.

She creates quite a statement thru her emaciated curves and angles.

Sadly the left breast blew off during firing, but Carol was able to retrieve most of the shards and glue them black together.

That sometimes happens when you are applying clay over clay and there is a slight air pocket.

Like I said, a very powerful sad statement.

Senior Tahnee Thanthrong's figure was the largest and most heavy to carry from place to place.

And Tahnee was the most small and delicate of the kids building these humongous pieces.

I was so very impressed with the scale she chose to work in, and how she never asked for help as she had to walk it back and forth to her work station.

A strong woman!

Tahnee was another whose breast blew off in the kiln, but she was also able to save the piece.

I feel she has really captured a strength thru this massive male body.

She stained her work with red iron oxide then poured Transparent glaze over the outside and our Chili glaze over the inside.

Senior Aditi Ramesh took a very unique approach to building and altering the upper body.

Love, love , love the plunging back!

 I think for the kids one of the hardest things to do are female breasts, especially if you are striving for realism.

I felt like Aditi nailed them.

Aditi has used our Tan glaze on the outside with Chili on the inside.

James Cho, senior, chose to cover his piece with multiple glazes for a really cool look.

And senior Aman Patel used the ceramic pencils to draw on his flying birds under the Transparent glaze.

I think it's really neat how the birds actually appear to be flying.

I was also especially impressed with his development of the collar bones.

Love the side view as well with the gentle curve of the spine as it goes down into the upper buttock.  Makes me want to run my hand down the length of the piece.

Looks like he used our black glaze on the inside.

A big thank you to junior Karisma Dev for allowing us to use her amazing Saori woven piece as a backdrop for the photography.

And lastly, here are the torsos coming back to school in my Mini Cooper from the District Art Show.

Couldn't resist taking a pix  :)