Artist Statement

The thought of a vase makes me think of flowers and happiness.  I wanted to make a piece that would carry that happiness forward and immediately picturing a sunset, warm (orange and red) colors and lines.  I started with a bulky square base and moved into a pyramidal form that closed on the rectangular neck finishing with an extended table-top lip.  Then I used inscribed lines for definition with horizontal lines on the base and vertical lines to lengthen the look of the neck.  

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The proportion in this piece is best brought out through the use and organization of line because the use of perpendicular lines placed on the base and neck help tie together the tapering form from the bottom to the top.  They make the base appear more squat and the neck appear longer.

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The hardest decisions to make were form selection and line pattern.  I knew the color pallet I wanted to use and the only issue I had was that the iron-oxide pattern did not come out as clearly as I had hoped.  In the end though it worked better because there were less dark spots which made the colors show more clearly.

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The process was as follows:

  -Decide on structure (form), color, and pattern for the vase project

  -Create stencils for the shapes to make up the vase form

  -Wedge the clay and put through the slab roller

  -Use stencils to cut out the shapes needed for the vase form

  -Bevel the edges of the vase pieces to allow proper fit

  -Score and slip the pieces together and add coils near seams 

  -Flatten coils to strengthen and shape seams, sponging for smoothness

  -Use wooden rib tool to add lines to base and neck surfaces

  -Place in kiln and Bisque-fire

  -Dip entire exterior in under-glaze

  -Draw tessellations (pattern) on with pencil

  -Apply iron-oxide and glaze to tessellations 

  -Kiln fire again to finish glaze hardening