A LINA KIM UPDATE (see previous post)

                                         

                               Lina's Nude Torso from her senior year 2018- 2019 in Ceramics II

               

                Lina shot me an email today to say how much she enjoyed her post from 2 days ago.  

                                                  And here is her most recent yearly update. 

                                                     She has declared a Major in Sociology 

                                 concentrating on Law, Crime and Justice along a pre-law track. 

                                                                        Now get this, 

                                she is Minoring in Banking and Finance, Art History and English.

                                                                     Is Lina nuts?

                                                           Nope she is just that capable.

              Plus she will be headed over to the Cleveland Art Institute for more Ceramics classes!!!!!!

                Liz Ackert, she loved your comment but her mother says, "No, her pieces are not for sale".

                                          Sorry...if it was up to her she would gladly sell you a piece.

      What was striking to me is I haven't seen her in two years since she was a senior in my class,

                          and this is the first time I'm displaying her Nude Torso she made for me.

                 Then she sent me those pictures last year from her first semester at Chase Western

                    along with a newsy email of her life updates that still sounded so very youthful.

                                 But a year later, today, her email sounded so much more grown up.

                                                                I wonder if I'd recognize her?

                                                                      They grow up so fast.

                                   I look forward to next year's update Lina, and I wish you the very best.

                                                         You are going to be a busy girl, ha ha

                                                              Love you to the moon and back!

                                                        Now let's see more of that Nude Torso

                                                                                       

Lina's torso was so very tall that we could barely put the lid down, 

and I had 2 very large kilns. 

Also we were deathly scared it would tip over during the firing

 due to the shrinkage that occurs at 1800 degrees,

bisque firing temperature.

We were both on our tip toes as one of us held it in place 

while the other put those heavy posts all the way around it.

We were also scared of cracking;

that often occurs when you build a piece this large over several weeks 

due to the uneven shrinkage of the plastic clay as it dries out.

But we got lucky,

I believe there was just one tiny hairline crack.

But I could be wrong,

it's been 2 years after all.

Ha!

Here it is back into the kiln for it's glaze firing.

You can plainly see that Lina has layered and dripped 3 different glazes over the body,

then brushed on Cobalt Carbonate Oxide over the spikes so they would turn blue.

And it did.

Woo Hoo!

Sadly here you can see that the glaze and Cobalt mixture melted down thru the middle of torso 

and adhered her piece to the bottom of the kiln.

Yes, it was permanently stuck!

This happens frequently to all the students because glazing is a very tricky process.

If it's a tad too thick it will drool because we take the kiln up to 2500 degrees for this firing.

Glaze has a Silica base and it becomes completely molten at that temperature,

and when it's placed on a vertical surface

gravity takes over.

Look out! 

Lina had to masterfully chip away first to get it unstuck from the kiln shelf,

then even more skillfully chip the excess off the base of the torso.

In the process some of the base was also chipped away 

but miraculously it still stood without falling over,

 sort of.

The pix was taken leaning it against a wall,

just in case!

And some close-ups.

We were so thrilled it came out as well as it did.

Well,

 maybe it bothered Lina way more then me because she is a perfectionist.

I am too most of the time,

but this was such an incredible piece to begin with that the drool was only a minor detail for me.

I believe Lina glued the base down to a wood block when she brought it home for more stability.

I want to take this opportunity to once again thank my Art Assistant,

Alyssa Olea Morales,

for the wonderful pictures she shot for me.

Speaking of Alyssa,

I just wrote a letter of rec. for her application into Cal. State Fullerton's Teacher's Credential program.

Only one more year till she is officially a full blown Art Teacher.

Way to go Alyssa!!!

2019 ALUMNI LINA KIM

It's been a long while since I've posted any student art, 

and these pieces were created over a year ago and have been waiting for me to put up.

Sorry Lina for taking so long to get to them.

But I'm also thinking it was worth the wait because they are fabulous!

I adore the slit she built into the side of this torso.

And the beasts look so very natural which is extremely difficult to achieve in sculpture

as all my Ceramics II students have found out. 

Lina is at a small private research U in Cleveland, Ohio

 (my mother's hometown was Garfield Heights),

called Chase Western University where she is finding the classes engaging and fascinating.

All of these pieces were made in her first semester there.

I found it interesting that the professor took the kids out to a local farm

 to be able to do an open air raku firing for this piece.

How fun and very cool!

I think this next one is beyond remarkable for one so young.

What Lina,

19 years old?

You are such an old soul.

Lina told me this one took the longest of all the ones I'm sharing.

I can see why,

it's just lovely as well as being highly difficult to handbuild!

I also really like how you glazed it with the pinky-purple accents.

Was that an oxide brushed over the glaze?

This next one was the easiest she said made for a platter assignment.

Again,

I like how you glazed it with the overlapped turquoise. 

And this is Lina's second Rainstick.

She learned to make one in my Ceramics II class when she was a senior,

and she told me that both the other students as well as the professor

 were super impressed with this technique and the sound it made after firing.

Another very difficult piece to build,

but so worth the effort.

And this last one was the first piece she made at Chase.

The assignment was to build a stemmed vessel.

She added additional sculptural elements to the vessel which I bet pleased her professor.

The fluid waves create movement and forces the eye to circle around the pot.

You are an amazing designer and craftswoman Lina,

thank you for sharing these pieces and allowing me to post them.

I'm so very proud of you!!

Btw,

what's your major anyways??

Let us know, 

and please send more pix from your second semester.

STANDING OUT IN A CROWD

REALISTIC CLAY HEAD RATTLES

CERAMICS I

clay, glazes, & oxides

I always love to see all the students heads loaded onto the cart.

So many personalities, cultures, hairstyles and expressions.

So much fun.

Here is another assignment that the kids fear going in, 

but end up giggling and really enjoying themselves.

Let's take a look.

Our first colorful one was done by junior Sara Ryave.

She used all four of our oxides and stained the bisqueware first,

then put our Transparent glaze over top.

So unique and eye catching.

Junior Michelle Son brought in a picture of movie star Marilyn Monroe.

I was so impressed with how well she pulled this face off,

but it's the hair that really calls to me.

And junior Richard Montes chose his cultural background to pull from.

Love the strong facial structure and the very cool headdress.

These two highly expressive faces were done by seniors Augustine Lee & Ashley Scott.

Senior Christian Balbido & junior Jaclyn Dong both really got into this assignment,

Christian doing a portrait of his father that I felt looked very realistic.

We end with junior Lina Kim's grandmother.

I felt it was a beautiful portrait,

Lina expressed that she thought it was so-so.

These kids are always so hard on themselves,

so that when they do like something they've made I get really happy.

I love that Lina added the flowers on her grandmother's shoulder.

A very special touch.

PLANT YOUR GARDENS

NATURE PLANTERS

CERAMICS I

clay, glazes, oxides & misc. plants

This is a wonderfully fun & functional assignment for the clay kiddos.

They made the planters and then for their 4th Quarter Final they were able to plant them.

Below is one of my demos. that I planted several years ago 

and gave as a gift to my son's wife's mother.

Under Mary's watchful attentive care the succulents are thriving as you can see

(she recently sent me this photo so I could see how lovely it's flower is).

So here we have last school years students out in the delicious sunshine planting their pots.

I buy them a big bag of planters mix and several small starter plants to choose from.

I try every year to have a different selection. 

I also encouraged the kids to raid Josh's succulent garden in search of the perfect plants.

And succulents are so hardy and easy to grow,

pretty much fail proof.

Here are a few of the finished planters.

I'm guessing here because I can't find the names of who made which ones so here we go.

I'm pretty darn sure the one above was made by junior Sara Ryave.

And this next one belongs to senior Catherine Lu.

Note those sweet tiny clay flowers in the left corner.

And I believe these last two are the works of juniors Richard Montes and Dustine Ansiboy.

Please correct me young ones if I'm wrong.

But aren't they fabulous?

MELTING GLASS

CARVED GLASS PLAQUES

CERAMICS I

clay, glazes, & glass shards 

Here is another favorite assignment of my beginning clay kids,

these Carved Glass Plaques.

They are tedious to make and carve out,

 but oh so fun to load up with glass shards

and see the beauty of the end results when we unload them from the kiln.

Let's take a look see.

This first beauty was the work of senior Catherine Lu.

We all liked how she was able to get so many value ranges within each color.

Plus she rocked her design as well.

And how could we not love senior Christian Balbido's pup?

He brought in a picture of his dog to work from

and did a terrific job carving all those complex areas.

And junior Lina Kim made a spectacular creation as well.

She also chose a very difficult design and was able to get a lot of great movement 

within her glass shards.

Like Christian's piece,

she also painted black glaze over her walls to make the glass pop.

Senior Michelle Hwang crafted this beautiful shark,

and junior Michelle Son made the lovely piece below.

We end with junior Richard Montes and his design based on his cultural heritage,

an Aztec creature.

I really liked the colors of glass he used and the lighter raised bumps on the animals skins;

the contrast is so appealing to the eye.

WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK

CLAY WHISTLES

CERAMICS I

clay, glazes, & oxides

In the past several years for the whistle unit,

we have done Burnished Non-Objective Whistles,

but last year I decided to bring back Realistic & Abstracted Whistles;

they actually resemble something or are a made up creature.

The kids had a blast and brought in a lot of whimsy.

Making the clay actually whistle is a real challenge,

but last year the kids caught on pretty quickly,

like junior Dustine Ansiboy above.

We all were highly impressed with her realistic heart form

as well as how she glazed it with ceramic watercolors & Transparent glaze.

We were also super delighted by the rest of these whistles you will see.

Like the one above left by senior Christian Balbido.

The addition of the hat and nose brings in a bit of fun.

Senior Renee Kim choose to try a more realistic view of her shark on the right.

You can kind of see where you place your lips to blow on Renee's shark nose.

Senior Ashley Scott made the adorable piggy on the left.

I love that she placed his smile to the right

as this adds so much personality.

And junior Michelle Son went with a made-up creature with a slightly fierce expression.

Lastly we have senior Shreya Gupta, and juniors Lina Kim and Angela Mak.

Adorable,

 right?

I was told once by alumni Megan King that making her clay piece whistle 

was a highlight of her Whitney High School days.

Makes me so happy!!   

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.