where the process matters so much more;; part 2

continuation of my previous post ^^

out of the two branches of pottery, the branch of hand-building still appeals more to me. for throwing, all you do is bend over the wheel trying to steady your hands to shape the spinning clay. but the works are (usually) always just round, smooth and symmetrical. there is not much feeling in the process, its more of the work that perfectionists do. (to put it bluntly) although it is true that through throwing, people are able to create works that are of a more sophisticated, elegant and classy, i don't think that that is the main point of pottery.

as i have said in the previous post, the main point of attraction pottery holds for me is the process of creating a piece. it is the experience of molding and shaping the clay with your own hands to create a piece of art. i feel that throwing does not offer me the full experience of clay, but hand building does. in hand building, you are not restricted by the wobbling clay or the turns of a wheel. in hand building, you just have the lump of clay in front of you, and some tools and your two hands. to me, hand building offers so many more possibilities and opens up so much more potential in clay.

in hand building, you can physically shaped the clay, twist the clay and bend the clay however you like. and since it is "hand-made", there is little or no chance of replication, making each piece unique. and because of the high level of interaction between maker and clay, each piece is thus more personal and holds more sentimental value. there is also more opportunity for texture and designs in hand building, creating even more possibilities for the average lump of clay.

these are a few of my favourite hand-building works ;D the first two photos are different angles of a bull sculpture i made last year. it was made out of a picture in one of the books my teachers had lying around their studio and is one of the most realistic figurines i've ever made ;D just so you know it's made out of a single huge lump of clay that i shaped and carved out :D i emphasised more on the muscles and form of the bull as it crouches because i wanted to try and capture the power and strength the bull represents.

the next one is a basket i made by weaving clay coils together. the idea is simple but the effect is (in my opinion) really good, mostly because of the design and the colour combination. the glaze i used was so cool - brown when painted in less layers and blue in thicker layers. the effect with ultramarine was a lot more than i bargained for ^^

the last one is actually a candle holder. i posted it here not only because i liked it but because i thought it related to my coursework a lot :D there's a hole at the top of the owl's head where you put the candle in and there are rows of tiny holes in the belly for the light to shine out. owls are nocturnal creatures which always fascinated me because they live in a world that is mostly devoid of light. when i was young, i used to think that nocturnal animals had the ability to produce light or glow, which is how they live in such darkness. so i used that memory and made this candle holder - an owl that can glow :D