Artist Statement

My altered twin mugs take inspiration from ancient pottery forms I have seen in museums and online.  I wanted to use pattern and size to tie the two pieces together and texture to give the appearance of age.  I used a three color pallet with two earth-tones separated by a muted gold.  Both mugs are tapered from a wider base to a more narrow top rim.  They are somewhere between elegant and simple and would fit in with the average family household of older days.

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The balance of these two pieces is best brought out through the use and organization of color and texture.  The color allows the viewer to tie the two mugs together while knowing that it is not exactly the same pattern. The textured lines in the surface gives the appearance of functionality and age.

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The largest obstacle I face on this project was making the two pieces different from each other while making it clear that they were still a set.  While the fact that the colors are the same definitely tie them together, trying to keep a very similar form of tapering really allows the shape to emphasize that they are a set. 

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This project made me think of the different potteries I had seen from the ancient world - Greeks, Egyptians, etc.  The idea of something simple and functional that could have been used by the masses of the day gave me a purpose on these pieces.

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The process was as follows:

  -Decide on the form of the twin mugs - tall and short

  -Wedge the clay and roll into two soft-ball sized spheres

  -Center sphere on wheel and use thumbs to pull up to create mug form

  -Trim away skirt clay with wooden rib tool

  -Cut away from wheel with wire cutter

  -Place on wooden bat and wait to dry turning leather hard

  -Trim away excess clay with ribbon tool to finalize shape

  -Add texture with needle tool to the outside of mug

  -Repeat for second mug

  -Apply iron-oxide to the outside of both mugs using brushes

  -Place in the kiln and Bisque-fire

  -Apply glaze with brushes for color

  -Place in kiln and Glaze fire to finish hardening the glaze

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