Artist Statement

As I expand my horizons in shape and form, I thought it would be interesting to throw some different types of pottery this trimester.  This specific project gave me the chance to work with matching pieces together with the jar and lid components while trying to figure out how to make the jar itself differential in shape or form.  I really wanted to work on texture here and used the lines to give that effect - Contrasting patterns of repeating horizontal lines with the asymmetry of the varying thickness.  The barrel effect of the design made it feel like the right direction to use browns as an earth-tone color to bring the piece together.

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This piece plays with the elements of Line and Form brought out by the barrel shaped base of the jar - the width and depth of the barrel lines contrasting with the rounding shape of the barrel body. The Pattern and Repetition of the jar is brought out using those same barrel lines making it a focal point both to the eye and the touch.

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This project allowed me to learn (the hard way) how to manage white clay and moisture.  My jar ended up with a large crack through the base after firing and when discussing this with Mr. Manders, I learned that white clay holds more moisture than stonewear clay which makes it prone to cracking.  He recommends using a needle tool to poke a small hole in the clay to release the moisture on future projects. While it is heartbreaking to find a crack like this on anything you make, it definitely gave me the opportunity to learn a valuable lesson before going on to larger and more time consuming pieces!

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The process was as follows:

  - Wedge one baseball sized ball of white clay
  - Throw 1 cylinder on the wheel
  - Use your fingers and a sponge to widen out the base
  - Make the opening smaller than the base
  - Pull the opening up every time it is coned in
  - Cone the opening closed once it is small enough
  - Create a knob on top with fingers and a rib tool
  - Create an indent around the jar where the lid will be (about ¾ of the thickness

     of the walls)
  - Trim skirt clay away with a wooden rib tool
  - Smooth out the surface of the jar with a sponge
  - Use a wire cutter to remove the jar from the wooden bat
  - Let stand to dry slightly leather hard
  - Once leather hard cut the lid from the body of the jar with a needle tool
  - Use a ribbon trimmer to create a foot ring and the ribbed design on the

     outer surface of the jar
  - Let stand to dry leather hard
  - Bisque fire the jar
  - Use glaze to finish
  - Glaze fire them for completion