Lidded Vessels- Katie Berberick

This is a jar by Mark Hewitt, and it is an example of slip work with textured glaze. This image was attractive to me initially because of the form of the jar. The extreme round belly of the jar contrasts with the narrow foot. An additional interesting feature of this jar is the collar that Mark creates for the gallery lid to sit in.

I became very intersted in the work of Victoria Christen. I really enjoy her line work. the contrast in sharpness of the lines adds depth to piece. I also learned that this is a soda glaze. I feel that her forms are remiscent of the surface treatments that she uses because the surface is very loose and natural. The form also seems effortless. It is as though the clay is allowed to take on its own shape rather than a shape that was carefully, and tightly manipulated.

This jar by Victoria Christen uses very warm tones compared to the one pictured above. We see similar line quality where she has applied loose brushstrokes and then layered tight lines on top. This jar was fired by electric oxidation.

http://www.accessceramics.org/results/object/17/

Cups and Trays- Katie Berberick

Clay is an extremely diverse medium, and this quarter I have been working to use my background as a painter as influence in ceramics. Researching this idea led me to Bede Clarke. He is a ceramic artist, but he dabbles in painting and scupture as well. This is a platter by Bede Clarke, and it is a beautiful demonstration of his painterly style. I have learned that his forms are thrown, and then altered and handbuilt. His surface treatment is called engobes which is a type of slip.

This is a sculptural piece by Bede Clark. I greatly appreciate the openness and ambiguity of his work. I was struck by his description of the sculptural pieces on the website.

"Who cares if it's a pot or a sculpture, or a figure or abstract, if it's big or small, if it's flat or round or how it was fired. I'm just always trying to do the same thing - make things which say to me, "maybe there is more here than you ever imagined - can you just grow a bit taller to see it and listen a bit deeper to hear it?" It's always just ahead, just around the next corner. It can be a part of the wonderful complexity of being a human and it can also be nothing - nothing, if that's what we chose to make of it." Clarke's statement demonstrates an attitude of art that I can realte to. I enjoy approaching art in an experimental manner without a perfect vision of what it will turn out to be.

This is a tray by Linda Arbuckle, and she created a great form with this peice. It is a simple shape, but very finctional. It appears that she added the handles to the orginal form, but she synthesized the tray very well with the surface treatment.

In investigating cups and trays, I knew that I wanted to create a form in cups that would be functional without a handle. I found a set of cups by Sanam Emami that emanated this idea.

http://www.bedeclarkestudio.com/bedeclarkestudio.com/home.html

http://www.accessceramics.org/results/object/22/

http://www.accessceramics.org/results/object/2/

Cups and Handles- Katie Berberick

I appreciate the form that Sanam Emami creates with these two cups. The simplicity allows for her surface treatments to speak for themselves. Additionally, this shape is ideal for placement of handles. In my own work I found difficulty with round cups in combination with the handle. The outward slanted line that Emami utilizes is more user friendly for holding the cup.

This mug by Eric Rempe is a unique form and surface treatment. It is an example of throwing and alteration techniques. He fired it in a gas kiln. I am drawn to the shape that hi has created in combination with the color treatments.

This is a cup by Paul McCoy, and I am referencing it because his surface treatments are incredible. He is a ceramics professor at Baylor University, and in my research I found that his work is wood and salt fired. Much of his work has reductive techniques that add texture to the peices. It was though researching this type of surface treatment that I found inspiration for the surface treatment for my own work. The additive and reductive techniques brought intersting results in Paul's work and this is a process that I will continnue to explore myself. I personally enjoy the simplicity in his forms because this allows the surface treatment to become the focus of the peice.

This is a vase also by Paul McCoy, and again we see evidence of additive and reductive techniques. The nuetral tones in his surface treatment are also applicable to the concepts that I have been working with this quarter.

http://www.accessceramics.org/results/object/2/

http://www.accessceramics.org/results/object/19/

http://www.baylor.edu/art/index.php?id=55185