C+S 1 | Dish Your Style [sgrafitto+molds]

Objective: 

Research contemporary artists + choose the style of an artist of your choice to design surface decoration for a dish, cylinder, or bowl. Create pottery using a slab mold, adding a foot for height, + carving back designs (sgrafitto) to show your artists style. view project slide show  view lesson  view examples  more examples!  step-by-step process

Design+Studio Process:

1. Research ceramic artists online and identify what styles you are drawn to: organic/nature inspired, geometric/angular, expressive/messy, simple, chaotic, calm, words, realistic, characters, abstract with simplified or even nonrepresentational imagery?
2. Choose your favorite artist from galleries found on Ceramics Monthly or the Museum of Modern Art websites.
3. Respond to questions about the artist, style, process, and more.
4. Print out 4 photos of their work and staple to research responses.
5. Design your surface treatment for a dish based on selected artists' style and your own.
6. Create a large slab, layer a mold with a wet paper towel, then lay plastic slab into or onto form.
7. Add a foot, carve initials in bottom, paint with 2+ coats of underglaze, + carve back surface design showing your artist's style crossed with your own.
8. Bisque fire and gloss glaze for finished product.

Resources:Ceramic Arts Daily 'How to Carve Relief Sculptures'

SLAB BUILD PLATES WITH TEXTURED + STENCILED DECORATION ... Making a set of ceramic plates can be fun for the beginner, but is also easily adapted for more-experienced student.

MOLD MAKING ... Today Holly Goring shows us how to make a reclaim slab that doubles as a wedging board, saving space, materials, time and effort.

MESSAGE ON A BOTTLE: ULTRA THIN SLAB CONSTRUCTION ... Today, Frank James Fisher takes us through the process of creating a stamp-textured bottle form out of very thin porcelain slabs.

TAR PAPER FORMS ... Discovering new forming methods for hand building is a motivational experience. A few years ago, Bill Daley came to Montana's Archie Bray ...