Reflective Essay for Ceramics Internship
For this experience, I spent ten weeks interning and working in the studio of a local Cincinnati ceramic artist. The main goal of this project was to continue practicing wheelthrowing over the summer while I was on break from school and keeping up my skills while learning new techniques. In addition to working in the studio, I also spent a couple hours each week researching ceramic artists and techniques and looking at images for inspiration. At the beginning of the summer, I took some time to write down goals that I hoped to accomplish throughout the ten-week duration of my project to keep me focused. The project was fairly open because my main goal was to keep in practice over the summer and to spend time in a different environment to learn new techniques and gain inspiration from different places. The most significant aspect of my experience was continuing to create work and push myself to experiment with new ideas and techniques.
For the most part, my experience met the proposal that I outlined; the only major part that differed was the timeline. Setting things up took a bit longer than I had planned on and as a result the start of my project was pushed back a week. Because of that, my family vacation occurred within the ten-week span of the project and so I had to extend it by a total of three weeks (one to compensate for the extra time it took to set things up, and two to compensate for our family vacation and I still wanted to complete the full 10 weeks that I proposed.
The main creative learning outcome that I worked towards was further developing competencies within the field of ceramics; throughout the course of the project, I was able to learn new skills and techniques – particularly in surface decoration. One goal I had for myself was becoming skilled enough in both wheelthrowing and trimming pieces to make my final works thinner and lighter; even though I am not as skilled in this area as I was hoping I would be at the end of my project, I feel that I have made significant progress in this area. Another area I hoped to develop further competency in was firing kilns, so that I would have the ability to fire a kiln on my own if necessary. Again, I feel that I still have room for improvement in this area but I feel much more confident in my abilities after working on it throughout this project. Another learning outcome I made progress towards meeting was in my ability to think innovatively: at the end of my project, I created an Etsy shop to promote and sell the work that I had made over the summer. In order for my work to be successful, I had to make sure that I was able to come up with innovative ideas that other artists weren’t necessarily doing so that my work would stand out from the work of other artists.
At the start of this project, I composed a list of seven books that I wanted to read throughout the duration of the project; reading these accounted for part of the time that I spent on research each week. The book that I enjoyed and got the most out of what The Potter’s Studio Clay and Glaze Handbook by Jeff Zamek, which turned out to encompass much more than I initially thought. From the title and the brief bio on the book, I assumed that the book would focus on different clay and glaze recipes; in fact, there were only a handful of recipes in the entire book. The book instead started off by covering the essential tools every potter should have, then moved on to how to effectively set up a studio space and make workflow most efficient. The book then covered different aspects of both clay and glazes, a multitude of tests to perform on both, and how to troubleshoot problems that could occur. The last section of the book was dedicated to information on how to “make it” in the ceramics business world, how to create a successful business plan, and questions to ask yourself as you start your ceramics business. I found The Potter’s Studio Clay and Glaze Handbook to be extremely helpful and plan to continue checking it out from the library to have on hand until I buy my own copy. I didn’t do any testing on different clay bodies that the book suggests since the clay we used was reliable, but I did read through the section and found it really interesting how many different tests there are to perform on clay and figure out if it will act a certain way. I found that information extremely useful, and definitely want to try some of the tests mentioned on the clay we have at UC when I take wheelthrowing in the fall and am going for a certain effect or need to ensure that the clay will behave a certain way.
Surface Design for Ceramics by Maureen Elizabeth Mills was another book that I found to be really helpful, mainly because of the detail that it went into on a multitude of different surface techniques. Reading through these books helped me to acquire new skills, particularly in surface design, that I will take away from this project and use in my future work. I really enjoyed the work that I did with stamps and inlaying and definitely plan to continue experimenting with the technique as soon as I get the chance.
If I had not read through the books I listed, I feel that my project would have gone a very different direction and that the pieces I made would have been much less interesting as a result. The books I read throughout the course of my project gave me a better understanding of why clay and glaze work the way they do, and I have a lot more confidence in identifying and troubleshooting problems that may come up, or things that went a different way than I expected, than I did at the start of the summer.
If I were to do this experience again, I would make it last longer. Because I completed this project over the summer and had to factor in time that I would be on vacation, it wouldn’t necessarily have been realistic for me to extend it beyond ten weeks, but if anyone were engaging in a similar experience and had the time I would definitely encourage them to make it last as long as possible. There are so many different possibilities of how to layer different underglazes, glazes, patterns, textures, and lusters, that there is really an infinite amount of combinations to make when creating a piece. I think that I can work with ceramics for the rest of my life and still not be able work through all the different combinations of different aspects or techniques that I would like to.
What I learned throughout this experience will, and already has, directly impacted the work that I make, which I hope to continue to do in the future. Some of the surface techniques (layering, inlay, etc.) can even be applied to other areas of art, such as drawing and painting. I am taking a drawing class in the fall and have always loved painting, so I feel like I will definitely be incorporating some of the techniques I learned and practiced throughout this experience in other fields of art.
I feel that by staying in practice, I was able to effectively maintain the ceramic skills that I have obtained in my studios at DAAP so far, as well as learn some new and different techniques from both my mentor and the research that I did. I spent a great deal of time researching and perusing through images of ceramics and was really pleased at how many new techniques I was able to implement because of what inspired me. I now have an expansive list of ceramic artists whose work I enjoy and that will continue to inspire me as I work with ceramics more in the fall.
I was proud that I exceeded my goal of creating 15 new and completed pieces in the 10 weeks that I worked, including working more with carving and different types of surface decoration. Unfortunately, I was not able to successfully marble clay but I did make a couple attempts that, while they didn’t result in the effect that I wanted, did still produce some interesting pieces. I kept up with my weekly reflections and made it through all of the books that I had proposed to read, which I feel like really helped me to understand more about why clay and glaze behaves the way it does. While I don’t think I am yet comfortable enough to fire a kiln for our class on my own—I would hate to be the one who ruined someone else’s work—I do have a much better understanding of how to fire a kiln than I did going into this project, which was another one of my main goals. After completing this project, my goals for the upcoming fall semester include using the Gloss Red glaze recipe that I did not have a chance to test over the summer, mixing white earthenware clay recipe, and using the Matte Pink recipe (cone 10 reduction) found in The Potter’s Studio Clay and Glaze Handbook.
My project culminated in the creation of an Etsy Shop (SamanthaReidArt) to hopefully sell some of the work that I created, and will also serve as a place where I can sell future work as well. I had started a shop on Etsy a couple years ago, but for the past year and a half it has been sitting “empty” with no listings in it, so I took this opportunity to revitalize the shop. In addition to the documentation I put on my learning portfolio, other people that are interested in ceramics can view my items on Etsy. In the item description, I will list different characteristics and techniques used in the creation of the piece so that people looking at the listing can hopefully learn a little about ceramics in the process. By sharing the work that I created, I am hoping to instill in others the same love and appreciation for ceramics that I have gained over the past few years.
For this experience, I spent ten weeks interning and working in the studio of a local Cincinnati ceramic artist. The main goal of this project was to continue practicing wheelthrowing over the summer while I was on break from school and keeping up my skills while learning new techniques. In addition to working in the studio, I also spent a couple hours each week researching ceramic artists and techniques and looking at images for inspiration. At the beginning of the summer, I took some time to write down goals that I hoped to accomplish throughout the ten-week duration of my project to keep me focused. The project was fairly open because my main goal was to keep in practice over the summer and to spend time in a different environment to learn new techniques and gain inspiration from different places. The most significant aspect of my experience was continuing to create work and push myself to experiment with new ideas and techniques.
For the most part, my experience met the proposal that I outlined; the only major part that differed was the timeline. Setting things up took a bit longer than I had planned on and as a result the start of my project was pushed back a week. Because of that, my family vacation occurred within the ten-week span of the project and so I had to extend it by a total of three weeks (one to compensate for the extra time it took to set things up, and two to compensate for our family vacation and I still wanted to complete the full 10 weeks that I proposed.
The main creative learning outcome that I worked towards was further developing competencies within the field of ceramics; throughout the course of the project, I was able to learn new skills and techniques – particularly in surface decoration. One goal I had for myself was becoming skilled enough in both wheelthrowing and trimming pieces to make my final works thinner and lighter; even though I am not as skilled in this area as I was hoping I would be at the end of my project, I feel that I have made significant progress in this area. Another area I hoped to develop further competency in was firing kilns, so that I would have the ability to fire a kiln on my own if necessary. Again, I feel that I still have room for improvement in this area but I feel much more confident in my abilities after working on it throughout this project. Another learning outcome I made progress towards meeting was in my ability to think innovatively: at the end of my project, I created an Etsy shop to promote and sell the work that I had made over the summer. In order for my work to be successful, I had to make sure that I was able to come up with innovative ideas that other artists weren’t necessarily doing so that my work would stand out from the work of other artists.
At the start of this project, I composed a list of seven books that I wanted to read throughout the duration of the project; reading these accounted for part of the time that I spent on research each week. The book that I enjoyed and got the most out of what The Potter’s Studio Clay and Glaze Handbook by Jeff Zamek, which turned out to encompass much more than I initially thought. From the title and the brief bio on the book, I assumed that the book would focus on different clay and glaze recipes; in fact, there were only a handful of recipes in the entire book. The book instead started off by covering the essential tools every potter should have, then moved on to how to effectively set up a studio space and make workflow most efficient. The book then covered different aspects of both clay and glazes, a multitude of tests to perform on both, and how to troubleshoot problems that could occur. The last section of the book was dedicated to information on how to “make it” in the ceramics business world, how to create a successful business plan, and questions to ask yourself as you start your ceramics business. I found The Potter’s Studio Clay and Glaze Handbook to be extremely helpful and plan to continue checking it out from the library to have on hand until I buy my own copy. I didn’t do any testing on different clay bodies that the book suggests since the clay we used was reliable, but I did read through the section and found it really interesting how many different tests there are to perform on clay and figure out if it will act a certain way. I found that information extremely useful, and definitely want to try some of the tests mentioned on the clay we have at UC when I take wheelthrowing in the fall and am going for a certain effect or need to ensure that the clay will behave a certain way.
Surface Design for Ceramics by Maureen Elizabeth Mills was another book that I found to be really helpful, mainly because of the detail that it went into on a multitude of different surface techniques. Reading through these books helped me to acquire new skills, particularly in surface design, that I will take away from this project and use in my future work. I really enjoyed the work that I did with stamps and inlaying and definitely plan to continue experimenting with the technique as soon as I get the chance.
If I had not read through the books I listed, I feel that my project would have gone a very different direction and that the pieces I made would have been much less interesting as a result. The books I read throughout the course of my project gave me a better understanding of why clay and glaze work the way they do, and I have a lot more confidence in identifying and troubleshooting problems that may come up, or things that went a different way than I expected, than I did at the start of the summer.
If I were to do this experience again, I would make it last longer. Because I completed this project over the summer and had to factor in time that I would be on vacation, it wouldn’t necessarily have been realistic for me to extend it beyond ten weeks, but if anyone were engaging in a similar experience and had the time I would definitely encourage them to make it last as long as possible. There are so many different possibilities of how to layer different underglazes, glazes, patterns, textures, and lusters, that there is really an infinite amount of combinations to make when creating a piece. I think that I can work with ceramics for the rest of my life and still not be able work through all the different combinations of different aspects or techniques that I would like to.
What I learned throughout this experience will, and already has, directly impacted the work that I make, which I hope to continue to do in the future. Some of the surface techniques (layering, inlay, etc.) can even be applied to other areas of art, such as drawing and painting. I am taking a drawing class in the fall and have always loved painting, so I feel like I will definitely be incorporating some of the techniques I learned and practiced throughout this experience in other fields of art.
I feel that by staying in practice, I was able to effectively maintain the ceramic skills that I have obtained in my studios at DAAP so far, as well as learn some new and different techniques from both my mentor and the research that I did. I spent a great deal of time researching and perusing through images of ceramics and was really pleased at how many new techniques I was able to implement because of what inspired me. I now have an expansive list of ceramic artists whose work I enjoy and that will continue to inspire me as I work with ceramics more in the fall.
I was proud that I exceeded my goal of creating 15 new and completed pieces in the 10 weeks that I worked, including working more with carving and different types of surface decoration. Unfortunately, I was not able to successfully marble clay but I did make a couple attempts that, while they didn’t result in the effect that I wanted, did still produce some interesting pieces. I kept up with my weekly reflections and made it through all of the books that I had proposed to read, which I feel like really helped me to understand more about why clay and glaze behaves the way it does. While I don’t think I am yet comfortable enough to fire a kiln for our class on my own—I would hate to be the one who ruined someone else’s work—I do have a much better understanding of how to fire a kiln than I did going into this project, which was another one of my main goals. After completing this project, my goals for the upcoming fall semester include using the Gloss Red glaze recipe that I did not have a chance to test over the summer, mixing white earthenware clay recipe, and using the Matte Pink recipe (cone 10 reduction) found in The Potter’s Studio Clay and Glaze Handbook.
My project culminated in the creation of an Etsy Shop (SamanthaReidArt) to hopefully sell some of the work that I created, and will also serve as a place where I can sell future work as well. I had started a shop on Etsy a couple years ago, but for the past year and a half it has been sitting “empty” with no listings in it, so I took this opportunity to revitalize the shop. In addition to the documentation I put on my learning portfolio, other people that are interested in ceramics can view my items on Etsy. In the item description, I will list different characteristics and techniques used in the creation of the piece so that people looking at the listing can hopefully learn a little about ceramics in the process. By sharing the work that I created, I am hoping to instill in others the same love and appreciation for ceramics that I have gained over the past few years.