EXPLORING THE HUMAN FORM

NUDE COIL FIGURE SCULPTURES

CERAMICS II

clay, glazes, oxides, ceramic pencil, & sawdust firing

I remember doing my first nude in my Ceramics I class when I was 16 years old.

Like my students,

my teacher,

Sally Foster Wilde,

gave us a choice between a male or female.

I choose a male and was completely in over my head.

She had us work in a  Reductive technique meaning we had to carve the figure from a block of clay.

That was my first time to do that as well.

The entire assignment was extremely difficult;

I remember my proportions were out of control,

and my craftsmanship was lacking.

And the only nudes I had seen were in art history books,

so those were my references.

But it was good for me to go thru this process.

I learned a lot about myself and my skill level,

as well as having to hang in there and push myself into something out of my comfort zone.

And even though it didn't look as good as some of the others in the class,

I was pretty proud of myself for having finished.

So as you view some of these works,

you may question why I put my students thru the same assignment.

You may also question if this is appropriate for a high school student.

(Most of my students who need nudes in their art portfolios for college 

have to go to outside art academies and pay for live models to work from).

Some of these might make you uncomfortable.

But I want to push these kids as I was pushed

 into a place they probably would never go on their own;

a risk that is too great.

It expands their minds and fine motor skills as well.

It's good for them and it's a part of life

as well as an art form to be studied and enjoyed.

And I save this assignment for my second level kids,

the ones who are going on in the arts and need this for their portfolios for college acceptance.

So are you  ready?

Here we go.

We start with junior Chloe Chang.

She picked the female form.

I asked the kids to work to at least 12 inches high,

most went over that.

I believe Chlo just made it to 12 " high but it ended up probably at least 20" wide.

There were several things I liked that Chloe did to her piece.

I love how she ended it with an organic lip,

and how she finished it off by applying Red Iron Oxide to her hand

 and stamping the form in various places.

You've got a nicely shaped behind as well Chlo.  :)

And do you see a bit of blue from the sawdust firing.

So cool.

That's very unusual.

My assistant and Alumni from 2012,

Alyssa Olea,

has been experimenting with different substances she is putting into these firings.

She is getting  interesting effects from salt, banana peels, cow dung, oxides, 

pine needles, newspaper and hay.

This next one was done by junior Eugene Ho. 

I believe that Eugene was able to get his to at least 18 inches high,

quite a feat.

He chose to do an older, slightly overweight male.

Love how he captured the sagging pectorals and the slight pouch of a belly.

And I felt the markings from the sawdust were gorgeous and striking.

Bravo Eugene. 

And then there was junior Julia Ruiz' piece.

A glorious male upper torso.

We all really loved how she glazed and decorated it. 

I'm pretty sure Julia was surprised at how well it turned out.

We were all so proud of her.

Next up was senior Sarah Oh.

Sara's piece was the smallest but looks larger here than it really was.

I'm guessing it was about 10" wide by 18" high.

All the other students started with much wider bases,

but Sarah started much smaller.

There is so much to love about Sara's female form.

The relaxed pose,

the ceramic pencil surface designs drawn onto either side,

the very realistic breast forms,

and how much of the body she built,

plus the asymmetrical ending at the top.

Just lovely Sara!

And check out the backside.

So fabulous, fluid and real.

You rocked this assignment Sarah.

We end with senior Ylia Madayag and her healthy looking male form.

It was quite an attention grabber at both Open House and Senior Awards Banquet nite,

as you might imagine,

but no one complained or protested.

I personally was holding my breath,

not sure what to expect of our parent community.

I was really proud of their openness, respect and acceptance of their children's work.

What I really liked about Ylia's piece was how it opened up at the top,

how she flared out the lip for such a pleasing ending.

I also thought the sawdust markings were quite lovely as well.

You are a brave young woman Ylia, 

and I'm so proud of you for giving this piece your all,

and not caving to all the teasing you got as you worked it out.

STUDENT PROFILE - SARAH CHANG

THROWN BOWLS & PLATES

CERAMICS II

clay, glazes, potter's wheel & ceramic pencils

It was an absolute joy to work with senior Sarah Chang  again in the Intermediate clay class.

The first half of the year was spent handbuilding and the second half 

learning to throw on the potter's wheel.

Here we see Sarah in her 4th quarter where she is learning to throw bowls and plates,

and also how to trim a foot on their bottoms.

We see one of her bowls here that she threw with Porcelain clay.

Teaching anyone to throw on the potter's wheel is one of the most difficult learning curves there is.

However,

Sarah took to the wheel like a duck to water.

Amazingly she had no big struggle like most do.  

She just sat down and was able to  replicate every move I'd shown her.

It was quite remarkable.

I have another student this year who also was able to throw from day one,

junior Julia Ruiz.

Hopefully we will see her work before the end of the school year.

Ha ha

But at the rate I'm going it might take a couple more months.

Because this is a second level course,

surface design becomes even more important.

So above,

 Sarah was required to decorate her Porcelain bowl by using a ceramic pencil and draw a design

on top of her bisqueware,

then to dip it into a Transparent glaze.

Ceramic pencils are Metallic Oxides packed into a pencil form that can be sharpened.

Next on this plate she was required to overlap multiple glazes for a really cool effect.

I'm pretty sure she first dipped into our Cobalt Blue glaze then put one of our greens over top.

Love all the swirly marbleizing she achieved.

Almost looks like a crystaline glaze.

Here you can see the nice foot she trimed onto the backside of her plate.

Beautiful work Sarah, 

it was such a pleasure to work with you for 2 years in a  row.

TRYING SOMETHING NEW

THROWN /HANDBUILT POT

CERAMICS II

clay, glaze & ceramic pencils

I wanted to try a college project from my years spent in the Cal. State U. Long Beach Clay Dept.

with my pups.

To throw a pot on the wheel,

let it sit to become almost leatherhard,

then handbuild something cool on top.

I had one student who got what I was after.

Senior Celeste Zambrano.

She threw a bowl, 

turned it upside down,

then handbuilt a torso on top,

achieving a female form/torso.

Then to make it even more feminine,

glazing it with ceramic pencil flowers.

Bravo Celeste!

DRAWINGS ON CLAY

CERAMIC PENCIL ON THROWN POTS

CERAMICS II

clay, transparent glaze & ceramic pencil

Usually the kids in the clay classes don't do much drawing, 

just some quick sketch ideas.

But in the second year,

second semester,

I bring out the ceramic pencils (oxides encased in a pencil form that can be sharpened),

and require them to try drawing designs on either a bowl or plate they've thrown on the wheel.

Wait till you see their results!

Senior Klyne Madayag blew us out of the water with this piece.

What a gorgeous design Klyne!

No wonder she is now an Art Major with an emphasis in clay at Cal State U. Long Beach.

Next we have senior Sandhya Raghvan with this super cool drawing.

I was so pleased when these came out of kiln and couldn't wait to show them off to all the kids.

Seniors Efrain Quintero and  Eryn Burnett are next with their bowls.

Sadly Eryn lost the bottom of her bowl when she was trimming it, 

but I told her to keep it

 and see what she could do with it glaze-wise to practice on.

A close-up of Efrain's bowl from above.

And check out this interesting form from senior Sitara Puliyanda.

If I were to take a guess,

I'd say that when she was trimming it the lip chipped off,

so she balanced it by chipping off the other side.

But the kids were required to alter one of their plates on purpose,

so she could have done this deliberately from the get go.

Either way it looks great with the ceramic pencil decoration. 

As a thank you and surprise at the end of the year 

"The Gang" made me this sweet thrown piece and each signed it.

Thanks you guys.

You are in my heart forever.

xoxoxox

A CLASS FAVORITE

WHEEL THROWN PORCELAIN BOWL W/ CERAMIC PENCIL DESIGN

CERAMIC II

porcelain clay, glaze & ceramic pencil

All my clay kids loved this bowl as soon as it came out of the kiln.

Senior Nicolas Tudor made this as a gift for his sister (lucky girl).

This was an assignment for my 2nd year clay students.

To throw a bowl and trim it on the potter's wheel using Porcelain clay. 

And then after it came out of the bisque firing 

they were to use ceramic oxide filled pencils to draw a design with.

Then a quick dip in transparent glaze.

I really like how Nick thought to carry his design to the back side of the bowl.

MORE SURFACE DESIGN ON CLAY

WHEEL THROWN BOWLS & PLATES

CERAMICS II

clay, glazes, ceramic pencils & oxides

More beauties for your enjoyment.

I know this first one was made by senor Erin Hsaio

using the ceramic pencils.

I love the sensitivity she employed thru design and color.

I'm going to take a guess on this next super cool one.

I believe it belongs to senior Yasmen Pardo.

She'll let me know if I'm wrong  LOL

It's ceramic pencil and ceramic watercolor I'm pretty sure.

And absolutely no clue on this one

 that was glazed by pouring multiple glazes over each other.

It was another required technique.

This one sounds easy but can be tricky.

If the overlaps are too thick the glaze will run down the sides of the pot

 and stick to the kiln shelf during firing.

Then we have to chisel it off with a hammer which often breaks a piece of the pot.

One More...

sweet little Pinch Pot.

I found this one by senior Laarnie Barcelon the other day

 and realized I hadn't posted it with the others on January 10th.

It is special because Laarnie did something most beginning clay students don't try

 until they are in the second year class.

And that's trying out drawing with an oxide pencil.

That's how she was able to have that cute little kitten on the side.

Notice how the handle wraps into a tail.

Clever girl!

If you are new to clay,

you can buy thru Aardvark Clay and Supplies in Santa Ana, Ca.

the four main oxides in pencil form.

They are red iron, rutile, cobalt and chrome.

They also other a couple others if you are interested.

After bisquing the clay (first firing)

you draw with the colored pencils right onto the raw bisqueware, 

then coat with a transparent glaze.

Laarnie here used a transparent glaze over her cat, 

then dipped the top half in a turquoise glaze for a two-toned look.

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  :)