So I still need to blog about the AP Showcase! First off, I thought this was an amazing showcase this year you guys! Everybody's work was amazing! I think there was definitely a lot of talented people in the 2D and 3D classes this year. And our class was a really great group, a really positive, creative place. I'm also really glad that I was able to get everything done.....barely hahah. Anyway great job guys!

So the showcase is really what is on my mind. I have been doing a ton of ceramics lately trying to get ready. I'm still worried though because there is so much to do before the showcase, but I know I'll be ready! I am going to sit down and plan everything out that I need to do. I know that by Thursday I need all of my projects to be either finished or at the glaze ware stage.

OK so I finished two projects and I have one one the way. I am done with the three small shells and the three small sand dollar plates. I threw a pot on the wheel and on Friday I made a lid....the lid is going to be trimmed to follow the curve of the pot so that it is almost a ball shape. Then I will cover the pot with dots of slurry to look like the shell to the left. I know what my next project is and hopefully I can start that tomorrow. I am going to make a bunch of small dishes similar to the one I just made...like little miniatures of the shell on the left.

So I finished the three little shell dishes I have been working on and I wanted to put a picture up of them, but it wasn't working. So here is a picture of a sand dollar, because I am now working on three small sand dollar plates. They are going to be fairly simple so I am excited. I'm going to carve in a design and then fill it with black under-glaze and put a thin clear glaze over it.

So this is what I am working on this week. They are, obviously, shells. My intention is for them to work as little serving dishes, for condiments or something of that nature. They are fairly simple to make and I'm glad that they are turning out nicely. I just hope that that all the fine details will turn out as well. I need to add some more shape/carving to them.

So I haven't blogged in a while, because I keep forgetting and it's really upsetting because it's so easy if I can just remember and last semester it ruined my grade, so anyway I just remembered so here it goes. I am way way way behind on my concentration and we just ordered portfolios so I am stressed out. I guess I will basically be in the studio all week...and I know what I will be working on during spring break too!!! So yeah I need to buckle down....and this is a shell. I am going to make three dishes like this for my next project...but I guess I will be working on probably three projects at the same time...so anyway I really like the pieces I have made so far, but I am worried because I spent so much time on one and I took a lot of care to put the pieces together and I let it dry super slowly and it cracked, so if the glaze doesn't hide the crack I will have to redo it, anyway besides that we've got a great class going and I need to stop slacking.....

So yeah about staying focused on my concentration....it's harder than I thought. I need to buy some clay before I can make anything else for my concentration. It's just really hard for me to stick to one thing...I like being more spontaneous in art so I guess I just need to pull myself in and focus so I can get my work done for the deadline. Anyway...as my random mind goes...here is a picture of a shell that I want to make a vase of. It's the twisty one in the center.

So last class I found out about the class stash of tea after four years of passing right by it!!! So I got super excited and made some tea (but it was a gross flavor) and I used one of Amy's cups. And that got me thinking that I need to make some mugs. So anyway I will be making some mugs in the next few days so that I can make more tea in class. I have also been getting really distracted from my concentration by random ideas like these, so all non concentration work will be done outside of class from now on. I guess I'm going to come in after school to do this other stuff.

I have been thinking about these pots from the artist that amy showed us a lot lately. I love the sharp lines that she has going across the middle of her pots. The question I have though is how do they not collapse? I really want to try making one in my spare time after school or something to understand the technique so that I can make some that are my own style with the same technique. It's really fascinating to see how other srtist do things. These are just great.

So I had another idea for a project. It's based off of this type of sea urchin. I will basically be making bowls exactly like these. Earlier in my blog I have a picture of a shell like these ones but it's purple. I am going to do a large colored bowl based on the purple shell and then a collection of small white bowls based on these ones. I think these things are so interesting and a bowl like them will have a lot of character and keep the eye entertained. I'm so exited.....I want to start this project right when the new semester starts!

So my concentration is off to a good start and
I'm excited for the rest of the year. This week's
blog is about work that I want to start doing after
finals. I want to start coming in during my early
release to get better at the wheel and make things
that aren't for my concentration....just for fun. I was
looking around online to get ideas and find things that
I like. I want to make a series of vases or something
like that. I will be really busy on my concentration
but hopefully I can find time to do this also. These
are some of the things that I found online...enjoy!
And Congratulations Amy! Her baby was born on
my little sister's birthday and has the same name as my brother!
Babies!

So I am off to a start with my new concentration, which is serving dishes based off of different types of shells. The dish I am currently working on is based off of this shell here. The outside of the dish is rougher and the inside is going to be really smooth. I think I am going to do some type of stain on the outside and then do and iridescent glaze on the inside. I might eve raku fire this dish. I talked to Amy today and we discussed my different options for creating an iridescent effect on my dishes, because many shells look like that. So throughout the rest of the year I will be experimenting with raku and also this stuff that goes on top of a glaze to create hat effect.

So I may be changing my concentration to serving dishes inspired by the sea. I was just going to do serving dishes, but one of them was going to be based on a shell and since I needed to specify my concentration a little more I decided to make all my serving dishes inspired by shells. Shells have so many colors, patterns, and shapes to work with. I think I can make some very interesting, but functional pieces. These are some different shells I will be pulling colors, patters, ect. from to make my dishes. The very last shell on the bottom is actually a serving dish, to give you an idea of what they may be like.

So I haven't talked to Amy about this yet, but I think I am going to have to change my concentration. I really liked my installation concentration, but it costs a ton for materials and I can't affort it and niether can my parents. So my mom and dad wanted me to choose a cheeper concentration. So I decided I am going to make bowls with lids. I have a lot of ideas for it and it will be a lot cheeper too. My first bowl I will be working on when I get back is a bowl based on a shell I found that is like this shell. I am going to create a round shaped bowl and a fitted lid and then use slurry to create the lines of dots running up it. Then I'll use a really vibrant underglaze and wipe it off the dots so they are just raw clay.

These are some of the nests I made for two different installations. I will have photos of the completed instillation to show tomorrow during the critique. The birds nest were really fun, but difficult to make. I had to make a lot of them for my dining room, and I think they turned out great. The two normal bird nests in the photo were woven by hand and there are many more made by hand. They were woven just as a bird would do. But I have the benefit of having hands. It was a really interesting process and I appreciate the skill that birds have so much now. I had never thought of it before.

So I know these are blurry, but they were taken with my cell phone. On Friday I put up The AP Art Poster at Jamba Juice and I also put up an empty bowls poster there. I put an empty bowls poster up at Flying Pie Pizza, The Lake Salon, and Wizers also. People were more than happy to let me put them up, which was great!

This week I made a large bowl with a lid. I still have to finish making the lid. I did this for my breadth section in case I want to swap it for anything. This weekend I will being doing my instillations! I am really excited. The first one is going to be a birds nest instillation. My dining room will be covered in nest! I'll also be doing an instillation made from clay around my front door. It's definitely going to be interesting to see what my neighbors think.

This is a type of bird that weaves its nest like this. Each piece of grass is put in separately and woven in and out like cloth. This is what some of the nests in the instillation look like. I'm cheating on making them though, but they look just as interesting I hope. I watched a video of a bird like this making one of those nests and it was incredible!

So I have changed my concentration several times now, but I have finally settled on one that I am really excited about. My concentration would be installations centered around the theme of human absence. Instalations are more or less taking a space and transforming it in some way. They're site specific pieces of art that exist specifically for the space they were created in. By "human absence" I mean what our world as it currently exists (with buildings, homes, etc.) would be like if humans were not here. I will focus specifically on my home and create installations that show nature overtaking the home, with animal nests, plants, and other natural forces invading the space. Each project or instalation will be a different thing that has taken over a space in my home. For example, one will be a room that has been turned into a bee hive. Another will be one in which a spider has made a giant nest. One will be the roots of a tree coming through the walls. Below are some pics of different things that I will do installations on.

Right now I am still working on my human sculptures. (Not the one in the picture). I am pretty sure that I want to do human sculptures for my concentration though. I want to do another human sculpture when I am done with the one I am working on right now. In the next one though I thing I am going to focus on a section of the body to focus on really getting muscle shapes and finer details in the sculptures. I need to get Amy's book and study the bones and muscles in bodies so I can more accurately make the sculptures. I want them to be realistic. I am really interested in acurately creating a human body in clay. I chose this picture because I think it is a good example of really showing all the bones, muscles, and anatomy correctly. If I understand those aspects better, then I will be able to shape the bodies quicker and more accurately. I won't need to rely on pictures like I did for my current project, but instead I'll be able to follow the bone and muscle makeup of humans to make the sculptures. So I really need to get to know the human body, its shape, proportion, muscles, bones, and the way they all interact.

I know that the family projects are already due, but I am still working on mine. I really like making human forms, but it comes with a lot of challenges. For example, trying to make the heads is really difficult, because all of the features are very small. Right now I have the basic forms and I need to start making more details. The idea behind this project is placing a human family in the position of a family in nature, like a family of wolves or bears. Animals have such basic, necessary family units, without the stress that society puts on human families. This project is trying to show the natural simplicity that human families should have.
While I am finishing that project I will also be working on throwing some forms. I want to start by throwing some bowls and vases to freshen up my skills, and then make some pieces that I have been drawing in my sketchbook.