FROM STAR TO FINISH

COIL POT FIGURE SCULPTURES

CERAMICS II

clay, glazes, oxides, spray paint and acrylic paint

I'm extremely tardy in posting these incredible works by my intermediate clay kids.

Sorry guys....

but this is gonna be fun.

Enjoy!

What's truly amazing in this first 2 pix is the intensity these kids are putting into their work.

They have no idea I'm even taking their pictures  :)

As you can see senior Nicholas Tudor really got into the crafting of his piece,

and he's a proud papa when he finished.

I like that little leaf he added,

Nick liked something else.  LOL

Kids will be kids...

After Nick's piece came out of the first firing he chose to use spray paint as a finish 

and then to splash acrylic paints over top.

Next we have senior Yasmeen Pardo.

What I love about Yasmeen is she isn't afraid to take chances 

and do something completely different than her peers.

She has chosen to really abstract her form,

and to present it on it's arched back.

Also notice how she has designed the endings of the collarbone, shoulders and thighs.

She has actually ripped them instead of a typical smoothing.

As you can see,

Yasmeen like Nicholas was extremely proud of her finished work.

I feel this piece was one of the most important pieces done in clay this year.

Brilliant work Yasmeen!!

I adore the ribcage she built up 

and check out the staples she put into the sides.

Pretty darn cool,

right?

The glazing of the piece was also out of the ordinary.

First of all,

 she had to deal with the fact that her breasts blew off into several pieces during the firing.

So she thought to mix glaze with glue.

The glue to temporarily hold the pieces in place,

and the glaze to melt and fuse the pieces together during the 2nd firing.

Then she took her hands and coated them with red iron oxide 

and pressed them all around the form.

She also painted some glaze veins that dripped down the torso.

As you can she as she holds it for the photo,

the breasts held their place.

Bravo Yasmeen.

That was some serious critical thinking!

Next we have senior Erin Hsaio who managed to build one of the most glorious buttocks ever!

What I like about this pix is that you can really see the size coils they worked with,

and how huge these pieces were before they did all their shrinking.

Clay shrinks three times.

As it dries and becomes greenware, 

during the first bisque firing (1800 degrees), 

and then again during the 2nd glaze firing 2150 (degrees).

I really like how Erin ended the breasts,

and the contrast between the colors she used for her glaze finish.

More times than not these large pieces either crack or blow up during the first firing.

When building this big the clay is stressed to its max

and that's where the cracks come from.

When pieces blow off 

that's the result of air pockets when you attach one piece to another.

Senior Cindy Ryoo was going for a figure with some weight on it,

so she started off her base with some serious overhanging flesh.

She decided to build with pinched pieces of clay rather than the coils.

I'm fairly flexible and want my students to find their comfort zones as they work.

I adore how she finished the piece with multiple glazes that ran over each other during the firing.

I feel it really adds to the folds of flesh.

Looking into the inside was also quite a treat.

For some reason 

I don't have more pictures of the building of this next figure by senior Sameera,

although if you go back up to the very first shot you can see Sameera in the center of the photo.

She has built a beautifully full figured form,

and I find it very interesting how the glaze has broken consistently over the whole piece.

And lastly here is Ju Eun Lee working on her gorgeous form.

She also has chosen to build with pinch pieces instead of coils.

Right as Ju Eun was finishing her piece it began to rip apart

because the clay was having a hard time holding the top most weight.

She was clearly distressed,

I was delighted.

Sounds terrible, 

right?

I'm a firm believer in taking advantage of accidents 

and turning them into something even more interesting to the eye.

Taking your piece way further than you initially would have.

So I told Ju Eun to rip it more

and flare it it in a pleasing way.

She listened and I believe the form has more flow and movement.

This one was one of my favorites because of that.

She also glazed it in a very interesting way

and created diagonals that work with the movement of the form.

Another exceptional piece!