In ceramics I really like the idea of incorporating pieces into clay like wire or string. I wanted to use industrial pieces that resembled something similar to cinder blocks and steel rebar poles.
I looked into artist who worked in the style that I found similar to my concept. Glen Martin Taylor is a ceramic artist follows the Japanese tradition of Kintsugi but with a more obscure approach. I liked the style and technique that Glen used an it inspired me to create pieces similar to that. For my first experiment I wanted to make a piece with clay and wire combined together. I wanted to keep it a basic design to begin with so that I could develop my form and style further on in the experiments. Originally I wanted the opening to be completely covered with the wire but this was difficult to plan out, so in the end I went with piercing the clay so that I could insert several pieces of wire at the end. In the end the final piece to me resembled a corset to me strangely. I liked the result but it wasn't what I had initially planned out in my head.
But this experiment definitely gave me a great passion to work more with clay and wire or even finding ways to incorporate unconventional materials into clay. |
My second experiment I wanted to try and make a piece that was practical and then add something to it to make it impractical. Since I was already enjoying working with wires, I decided to use them again. The wires help as they can be moulded and shaped so I can have them shaped hoe I like. Since I was doing this experiment at home I had to use my own air drying clay. This clay was very different from ceramic clay which made working with wire slightly difficult, as the clay is delicate so the wires would tear the piece if I tried to work on it. Overall this experiment was one that I enjoyed to do most.
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For my last experiment I got to work with porcelain. I liked the incorporation idea I was doing so I looked into Terrazzo for a reference. Terrazzo is a technique which casts pieces of clay, glass, stones etc into a plaster or cast material. The end result is a mosaic piece. It came across really interesting to me as it was a direct reference to the work that I wanted to create.
I liked the idea mixing dried paint or pieces of glass into the porcelain, so I started of with creating small round forms which then I added in flakes of dried decorating slip. For my larger pieces I added pieces of broken terracotta into the porcelain as well as adding the paint. The larger pieces was difficult to handle as they were extremely delicate as the terracotta was not staying in place. But the end result turned out pretty well for all my pieces, there was some which I decided to add wire to after they were fired these were more in the style of Glen Martin Taylor who's work inspired me. |