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Final Blog Reflection


Final Blog Reflection

Unit 1: Slab Construction (Box)
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Never having a ceramics class before, what were your first impressions of the class through this project?

When I initially signed up for ceramics 1, I thought that a lot of the pieces we’d be working on would be a lot simpler. For example, I thought that our very first piece would be your typical bowl. But right off the bat, we started off with something a bit more complex. And so because we started off at a pretty fast pace, I thought the whole semester would be really fast, and that the class itself would be pretty hard. But later I realized that the complexity of the first project actually enabled me to learn a lot of the basic ceramic techniques that would be of further help in future projects. Moreover, the pace of the class ended up being a good speed as well, as we learnt as we worked.
Unit 2: Coil Construction (Greek Vessel)
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Prior to starting this project, what were your doubts prior to creating?

When I first found out that we would be creating a Greek vessel, I felt a bit uneasy about it because it seemed super complex. Coming into ceramics 1, I never thought we’d make something as complex as a Greek vessel, but by learning the process and by actually making it, I realized how simple making the Greek vessel was, and how it wasn’t a project to be intimidated about necessarily. Although it was a simple and repetitive process, I had to make sure I was careful and paid close attention to my technique, that way the quality of my work would be better and there’d be a reduced chance of my piece breaking.

Unit 3: Undulated Slab (Tripod Mug)
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What did you find most satisfying and frustrating with creating your work?

What I found the most frustrating in creating my work was probably the process of undulating the mug itself. It took a lot of patience to make sure that I was still able to maintain the quality of my mug, as well as to persevere and keep doing the revolutions until I achieved the undulation that I wanted.

I’ve always found glazing to be the most therapeutic and the most fun part of all the projects, so for this project the most satisfying part of this process was probably the glazing. I spent time really thinking about the combination of glazes that I wanted to use, and overall I’m really happy with how my mug turned out.
Unit 5: Sculptural Forms (Dessert Installation)
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What did you find most satisfying with creating your pieces?

The most satisfying thing about creating my pieces was, again, the glazing. When applying the glaze onto my pieces, I was able to start to see my pieces come to life, and when they finally came out I was super happy with how they turned out and how realistic they looked.

What was most frustrating?

The most frustrating thing about creating my pieces was probably my time management. We were supposed to create two pieces per class, but I found that I would be behind and have to stay after in order to create my six pieces. But, I think that if I managed my time better, I would’ve been able to produce more pieces, as well as produce pieces that were of better quality.
Looking back at all your work, did this class meet all of your expectations as a student?
When I look back at all my work, I actually think the class exceeded my expectations as a student. Initially, when I signed up for the class, I assumed that the pieces we’d be making would be super simple and it’d be your regular basic ceramics class. But, I ended up learning so many integral ceramics techniques that I know will be beneficial for me in ceramics 2 and other ceramics projects in the future. Furthermore, from these fun and interesting projects, I was able to be both challenged and go out of my comfort zone to achieve pieces of great quality.
How could I have taught this course better?
I think overall, you’re a great teacher, but one thing that you could possibly improve on is maybe doing some of the demos a bit closer to the time that people are going to be doing that part of the project. For example, when making the Greek vessels, I think the foot and lip demo was done too early in the project because by the time people were trying to make the foots and lips, they had already forgotten how to do it. But besides that, I feel that the demos are a good length because they’re really in depth, and gives us time to process what is expected for the project and its process.
Which project was your favorite and your least? Why?
My favorite project was probably the raining desserts one because we were allowed to be creative in the types of desserts we chose to create and the way it would be composed. Also, we were able to experiment with realism, which I thought was interesting. My least favorite project was probably our slab box, because I feel like I personally, wasn’t that creative with it in terms of construction and glazing.

I will miss each of you, have a wonderful break.
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