The Junior Art Portfolio Review was a success!

This morning was the official presentation of my first juried art show. Everyone at my school looking to graduate with a BA or BFA has to go through this painstaking, yet very thrilling process. Now all the art department professors will take their notes, process them, deliberate and determine if we had a cohesive theme, understood and worked with our mediums well and explained our thought process thoroughly. I will hear the results by Wednesday. We get two chances to do a Junior Art Portfolio Review (JAPR), so if we, hopefully not!, don't pass for any reason, we can put another one on next semester. I really hope I did, because putting in another seven months of straight work right after this is a very depressing thought.
Anyways, I am excited to hear the feedback from my professors, who have helped me so much, so I can start thinking about my BFA show next year. It will be three times as big and a million times more stressful, but after today, I feel like I can take on the world. Bring it on!

To look at everyone's work and look for upcoming photos and the recording of everything check out our SNC/FA Facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/SNCFA

Junior Art Portfolio Review: Close up

So I have finished all the little details for my show tomorrow. Here are just some close ups of my pieces. I love how the lighting looks on them.

The JAPR students' hall, late night, working on finishing touches. I am so excited for tomorrow.

Starting to Piece Together

This last week I have been thinking a lot about how my how my pieces are going to look. My professer and I are going to be making all my stands and shelves this week. I have also been working on putting the wire and ceramic pieces together. These are some pictures of what I have been playing around with, before the patina.

 By now I have finished this piece. (pictures to come) I have a small bunch of wire wrapping around the pot, and I have also put patina on the wire so it has an aged/worn look to it.

The vessels are equal to that of our own bodies, our own vessels. The wire is a psychical manifestation of our soul, what comes from a hero's journey, a personal journey to better ones self.

Third Raku Firing and New Pieces

Today I feel very accomplished. I finished firing all my bisque pieces and one of my three remaining greenware pieces. My shelf in the studio is so full, I have invaded another open shelf. I am very happy with how my pieces are turning out.

 This is what accomplishment really is. I feel great.

 My modern take on a Greek amphora. 

Deep in the JAPR Process-

So after two class critiques, with two different opinions, plus a conversation with my Psychology mentor, I have concluded that my initial plan was the right path all along. I got a lot of feedback and that part was good, but some of the comments were not helpful in the least. However I did do a piece solely based on the feedback. Unfortunately, I didn't feel the connection to my piece like I have before. It wasn't really me. So I have decided that I have a strong base and cohesive theme, and it's just time to follow through and finish.

This is the direction I want my work to go in. Each piece is a vessel, like a human, and the copper wire (going to be laced around and between the vessels) is the visible soul, the unconscious, the hero's journey.

This is the piece I made in response to the critique. I like aspects of it, but as a whole, it is not me, or where I want to go with my work.

Starting My Junior Art Portfolio Pieces

In order to get my BFA, my college has us put on our own show, both as juniors and as seniors. The junior show is small, 5 to 7 pieces and we get a section of a large hallway in our library. We also have to show our pieces to the entire art department; talk about our work, the theme, form, content, etc..
Anyways, I have been thinking a lot about my theme lately an I have unknowingly been living my theme through my ceramics since I started. I am a psychology minor and I feel a strong connection between my art and the psychology behind it. One reoccurring theme in the psychology I have been studying is the Hero's Journey. It's all about being unhappy in the life you are living at the moment, and taking a "journey" to find your bliss/ passion/ religion/ etc.. Then, making the "journey" back to the 9 to 5 world and be able to live you live with your bliss. It's different for everyone and I feel like I have been experiencing my bliss every time I sit down at my wheel, every time I throw a pot, every time I mold the earth into a vessel that contains me, my life and my hero's journey. The vessel contains me. That is the one sentence I am thinking in my head every day.

My vessels are a physical  manifestation of my journey. Dancing is also a way for me to reach my bliss.
I have been dancing off and on, my whole life, whether it's ballet, jazz, blues, swing, west coast, salsa or tango. When I dance, I am feeling my bliss surge through my body like a lightning bolt.
Likewise, when I work on the wheel, I can feel the energy and my bliss pouring through my hands and to the rest of my body. So I had to join the two.
I have also been working with wire sculptures since high school and I love how it mimics the whirls of the clay in a thrown piece. So these are two wire sculptures, a couple tango dancing, I made for my show. These are just a trial run, the real ones are going to be copper wire with patina, to give them an aged look. This couple is an actual snapshot of two of my friends out on the dance floor, which makes it even more personal for me. Anyways, thats a long rant about my work. Hope you all enjoy. More to come.