Vase Exploration

This is a project I created in the Spring of 2024, in my Advanced Ceramics Class. This is the same class I made my small and large tiles in, and I needed something different. I wanted to continue wheel-throwing and developing that skill. So I decided to try my hand at making vases. I chose vases because I wanted to challenge myself to throw bigger and taller.

For most of the vases, I went with where the clay took me to shape it. Although, as I kept going, I explored shapes I’ve seen elsewhere and started taking inspiration from different things in my life. One of those things is Detroit and its architecture. Growing up in the suburbs of Metro Detroit, a trip downtown was always exciting and inspiring to walk down the street and see all the historic buildings. One piece of the architecture I grabbed onto was the arches and straight lines from the Art Deco Era of the 1920s. Even with my inspiration from the Art Deco Era, when it came to the shape of the pieces, I also took inspiration from the Gothic architecture with its rose windows, for the glazing and decorating. I‘ve always found Art Deco and Gothic architecture to have similarities. The straight dark and gloomy, with pops of shimmer and spectacle. It’s admirable, finding and creating light and beauty in the dark, so why not combine these inspirations on pieces.

Throughout this process, I also got the chance to throw with different clay bodies. Most of the pieces were made with cone 6 stoneware, with a couple of exceptions. Some of the pieces were also decorated with colored decorating slips and black underglazes. Outside of 1 raku piece, the rest of the pieces are finished with a cone 6 glaze(s). 📸 by myself with an iPhone14Pro in AppleRaw photo mode.