Despite high winds and the loss of power, this week Picket Fence Art Studio was turned into a ceramics studio!

I wish I had a recording of all the times I heard “this is so fun” this week.

For Tuesday students, don’t worry! We will be making our ceramic creations in art this coming week.

I’d also like to offer the opportunity for all Wednesday students who missed class because of the crazy weather and the illnesses going around to come to class on Tuesday at 4:00 so we can all participate in this project. Just email me if you’d like to join in the Tuesday class so I can have a spot ready for you.

A little History:

The craft of ceramics has been practiced throughout history by almost every known culture. Some of the earliest work came from the Middle East and date back to 5000 BC. Ceramic objects were made most often for functional use—drinking, eating, cooking, or ritual. Ceramics along with other crafts were called the functional arts or applied arts because they “applied” to everyday necessities. However, they were never created to be strictly utilitarian.

Hand-crafted ceramics are beautiful and are meant to be admired for their form and decoration and as the individual expression of their creator. Source

David Stabley and Narrative Art:

Narrative Art is art that tells a story, either as a moment in an ongoing story or as a sequence of events unfolding over time. Some of the earliest evidence of human art suggests that people told stories with pictures.

Pennsylvania ceramic artist David Stabley alters traditional, functional forms, and uses shape, surface, texture, and color to tell stories on clay.

Originally trained as a printmaker, David uses the clay surface as his canvas on which he draws, paints, and carves.

We also looked at Narrative Works by Chagall.

Chagall flirted with many radical modernist styles at various points throughout his career, including Cubism and Surrealism. Yet he rejected each of them in succession, remaining committed to figurative and narrative art. Source

 Our Creations:

The students were then encouraged to create their own narrative stories on clay.  Here is a glimpse at the early stages. The ceramics will be fired during Thanksgiving Break and then we will glaze them and fire them again to create our final projects. I loved seeing all of the creativity this week.

 

Stay warm!