Sunday 21 February 2010

Ceramics class homework


I have played with clay from time to time, but I can't remember ever being given homework for a ceramics class. I like it. Somehow I imagined that you had to be in a special room in order to make things out of clay, so I've been pleased to discover that I can build little things in my own studio. Obviously getting them fired is another matter but I believe that my school offers an ongoing service. I must admit that I am a bit excited by the prospect -- it opens a creative door which had been shut for a while.
Above: the homework was to build a mask. Mine started off as a female but somehow had a gender re-assignment half way through and became a boy gendarme (he has since lost that shoddily built collar). Clay is stubborn like that, especially in the hands of someone who has barely touched it since 1994. I will paint it with one or two colours of glaze after it comes out of its first firing. Ceramics, colour and I have had a tenuous friendship, but that's a story for another time when I am in a darker mood.
For those in Melbourne: Northcote Pottery just off Lygon St in East Brunswick is highly recommended for all sorts of ceramics classes. Good value too.

4 comments:

Sandra @ Pepperberry & Co. said...

Ooh, great work! What fun it will be to have it fired and to play with those colors :-) xx Sandra #2!

Elaine Prunty said...

he looks distinguished and bewildered all in one....what great personality you can bestow with a flick of a tool.....Isn;t it great to broaden your creative horizons like that, i always try to study something different each year, last year it was screen printing textiles ,this year i'm doing collage and assemblage .
looking forward to seeing how mr. gendarmes full gender reassignment turns out. .

Sandra Eterovic said...

Oh thanks, Sandra #1! ;)
I agree, it will be great fun to play with the colours, maybe a bit nerve wracking too.

Hello again Elaine!
Thanks, I am very pleased that you like my boy. Yes, I think that you and I have a similar need to get our hands into all sorts of different materials. I can't imagine being so focused on one type of making -- there is too much fun to be had trying new things!

Dacey said...

You did a great job its really looking like a mask and i think its a great idea of giving home work sine every one learn from itself