Pottery

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https://hdl.handle.net/10217/180173

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Open Access
Anna Feldman: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Feldman, Anna, artist
The artist's statement: Clay reflects the plasticity of my thoughts. It is a malleable material that can be rapidly and easily manipulated. After firing, it is transformed into a permanent entity of stone that encapsulates the ideas infused into it. My connections to the material are very specific and reflect my personal day-to-day emotions and influences. Contemporary ceramic artists like Kathy Butterly, Matt Wedel, and Anders Ruhwald have inspired and impacted my reactions and interactions with clay. Their use of vivid colors, alluring textures, and playful methodology greatly intrigue me and impact qualities of my work. I am also attracted to the concept of playing, humor and tying in pieces of nostalgic memories from my childhood. I long for a time in my life when whimsicality was dominant and my thoughts were filled with mermaids, Seussian creatures, and an urge to create my own environment. By tying in textures and colors that remind me of these muses, I can bring back memories of the naïve, nonsensical, and unrealistic aspects of my being. I never strive for perfection or uniformity, but to document lingering ideas that need to be addressed. Each tile begins to represent windows peaking into various neglected ideas, paralleling the fast paced changes that are constantly made in my life. Each piece is interlaced with reactions that course through my fingertips the day that I translate this mud into a form. It is a constant battle of acting and reacting. Never fully ending until it leaves my possession and begins a narrative of its own.
Open Access
Anne Geisz: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2021) Geisz, Anne, artist
The artist's statement: My work seeks to understand and represent fractions of the human form. So often, we focus on our inner experiences and thoughts instead of the impact of our physical bodies and their actions. Each moment our body encounters leaves a lasting imprint on the space it occupies. My intent is to bring forward the importance of these moments and explore their subtle nuances. I am drawn to the material of clay for its capacity to hold. It is something that is capable of holding an imprint, an idea, or an object. We are able to mold and shape it, yet it still possesses boundaries and limits. Similarly, the human form is capable of holding both internally and externally. Our bodies hold our consciousness and organs while also holding onto the world around them. In this way they act much like a ceramic vessel that is meant to fulfill a dual purpose; to have both an aesthetic value and act as a tool for practical life. This body of work considers what it means to hold and serves as a bridge between aesthetic merit and functionality. Each piece contains life both through its inherent existence and through its function as a vase.
Open Access
Brenna Kossnar: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Kossnar, Brenna, artist
The artist's statement: I see my ceramic sculptures as abstract vessels that create the space for a fluid dialogue between themselves and the audience. I create work from a compulsion that allows each piece to become what feels right in the moment. The act of making the art is equally important as the final product. While I manipulate the clay, I am also allowing the clay to manipulate the outcome by moving how the clay naturally wants to move. At the same time, I also like to push what the clay can do, this can be seen in some of these pieces where the extremities are hanging far from center, causing cracking and instability. While working, my mind flips between being completely present with my piece and having the space to focus on something else. I have found this gives me creative freedom, and I let myself truly explore what the clay has to offer. The craftmanship of each piece is important to my practice because it signifies the growth of applied knowledge and an advancement in skill. Working with my hands, directly with clay is one of my favorite parts of the process. For this series I used a coiling method which allows for quick height. For the larger vessels I built multiple sections of a piece at once. This discipline allows me to build quicker than I could by building linearly. After letting multiple pieces stiffen to a leather hard stage I score and slip them together into one form. I then could make manipulations to the body, how it leans, contours, added details. During this stage I had multiple other vessels started. I have found working on a few vessels in tandem allows the pieces to form a relationship, they seem to better communicate to each other when made at the same time. The altering of the forms is the most creatively free step, where I can give each piece their own personality. While my work is abstract, and fueled by the material, I also find inspiration from the natural world. Some elements are inspired by trees and rot, coral animals, bugs, and human bodies. Reimagining natural elements evokes the juxtaposition between the ethereal and the hyperphysical materiality of clay. Inspiration is also found with early mid twentieth century potters. Peter Voulkos' abstract vessels are very large and playful, unlike anything else seen in this material at that time. The work of Claude Horan references the human body while being free from the academic representation of what a body should look like.
Open Access
Cassidy Gibson: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Gibson, Cassidy, artist
The artist's statement: I believe that the inspiration of my work is rooted in two words that have rung true for me from an early age: kinship and communion. One of the most paramount places that has remained a consistent home for these two words is the kitchen table. For me, the kitchen table has been this beautiful and wildly chaotic culmination of friendship, hard work, rest, nourishment, communion and kinship. It's such an important place because one of the collective experiences that we all participate in as humans is the act of sharing a meal with another. The table looks differently for everyone - and it may not even look like a table at all - but the act of sitting and eating together holds a familiarity to all. There's something profound that happens when people gather around the table - eating and passing food from their own tableware - and I want my work to be an intimate part of these profound moments. My pots are nothing but a continuation of what humans have been doing for thousands of years - making functional pieces for the home. I want to design pots that are simple in color and shape and can be best used as a functional tabletop object. I focus on how the formal qualities of the piece can pair well with the food and drink that it's holding, while also not getting caught up on how perfected the rims, feet, and curvatures need to look. The questions I do ask myself follow the relationship between the food and the pots. How can the surface of the plate enhance the color of the pasta? How can I make a bowl that is pleasant to scoop ice cream out of? How can I make a handless cup that's not too heavy, but also thick enough so that the coffee won't burn your hands? These are the problems that I attempt to solve throughout the process, and my hope is that they will encourage a body of work that helps to curate meaningful moments around your own table. It's not only the tangible qualities of a cup or a bowl that make it such a remarkable object, rather, the settling of the clay and communion of people into the moment together. The social sipping out of the cups, the meals shared with serving bowls, the witnessing of a bloom from the flower vase - these moments are all so precious, and they're important. Sitting around the kitchen table, participating in the communion and kinship with others, is important. It is then that these vessels become more than just pieces of clay from the ground; they're now the tangible manifestation of the intangible sentiment of a moment.
Open Access
Chloe Cecil: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) Cecil, Chloe, artist
The artist's statement: My journey as a potter began when I took my first ceramics class in my undergraduate studies at Colorado State University. An assignment that was based on recreating historical forms pulled me into the world of pottery and helped me to develop a relationship with clay and tradition that reinvigorated my love of making. In conjunction with a BFA in ceramics, I have also pursued a BA in Art History. The knowledge I have gained through my art history education has expanded my overall historical art knowledge and vocabulary while also teaching me concrete research skills that I actively use in my studio practice. For my capstone exhibition, I have created a collection of pots inspired by historical pot forms from several different cultures and time periods such as a 15th century pot from Korea and a 13th century pot from Iran. I started the process by first sketching pots from ceramic books and then selecting five forms that would push my technical skills. I decided to remake each piece with the same proportions and forming processes as the original historical pot but at a larger scale. While creating these five historical forms, I took the knowledge I was gaining from them to create ten smaller vessels inspired by the original five pots. The surface designs on each piece are from my own imagination. In this body of work, I explored carving techniques and black and white slip to create a common thread throughout the vessels. With this body of work my hope is to bring history back to the present and remind my viewer that history is still relevant to our lives today and is not solely in the past. This is particularly relevant to the ceramics field as so much of what we do in ceramics is based on long standing techniques and traditions. I am also striving to create personal relationships with the original makers of these pots by visiting their work in the present and being led by their hands in some way. Through the making of these pieces I am developing more gratitude for the makers that came before me, as all artists stand of the shoulders of their predecessors.
Open Access
Daniel Johs: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Johs, Daniel, artist
The artist's statement: I love visual art in part because I get to study myself, but also because I get to learn of others culture and history that are different from my own. I am very inspired by Japanese culture with deep human interactions and their self-honesty. I also like American cultures that are not my own like jazz's freedom, metal music's perfection and innovation, and hip hops individuality and community. I love to see differences in aesthetics of cultures worldwide, but also explore my own aesthetics of what is beautiful, funny, aggravating, or sad. This work has a pot taken from the background of a Jackie Chan movie blended with moonshine history. It has abstractions of emotions plus metaphors for my human relations and personal struggles. The field of animation seems to embody my favorite artistic ideas, and that is what I intend to do in the future.
Open Access
David Kruk: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Kruk, David, artist
The artist's statement: I am interested in the cyclical nature of time and its relationship to our human experience of internal and external space. I have been thinking about the material things we periodically return to and how a similar pattern can be found between our connection to the non-physical as well-thoughts, emotions, and processes. In material form, these elements can be condensed into a space where one can return and feel immersed both physically and mentally in a state of concentration, contemplation, and veneration. The concept of a shrine allows me to join these dichotomies of inside and outside and creates a moment for reflection upon different dimensions of nature. My inspiration partially comes from the architectural structures and material practices of human civilizations through time coupled with their cultural ideologies of nature and sacredness. Historically, a sacred object may be one that is used in a spiritual ceremony, such as the worship or service of a divine entity. In this way, the object's value is deeply connected to the beliefs and practices of its environment. The idea of a shrine provides a space where emphasis is placed on certain values and where objects can inherit meaning and a kind of spirituality. Nature in its material and immaterial form will always provide me with questions and ephemeral understandings--the nature of our subjective and collective human experience as well as the nature of our physical environment. Both are dynamic; reacting and evolving with time. Clay embodies these qualities of flux with its continuing states of material transformation, yet it is also able to sustain itself as an object of vitrified memory. From a formless lump to an elaborate vessel, what was once impermanent can hold the idea of permanence. As such, it is still susceptible to the consequences of decay, but provides space for new growth.
Open Access
Elizabeth Lessard: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) Lessard, Elizabeth, artist
The artist's statement: My current body of work is wheel thrown place settings for the table. Each are based on different historical or traditional ceramic forms. I look for pots that I find striking: an unusual form, an interesting surface decoration, or an exciting material. The choice of creating these pieces on the wheel is important. The wheel is a tool that has been used by potters for thousands of years and is an active part of the living history of ceramics. I've chosen five different historical traditions from across the globe, selected specific ceramic pieces from each culture, and then used those pots as inspiration for each place setting: American traditional, Mexican folk, Japanese Oribe ware, Song Dynasty, and ancient Crete. All of the decisions I made in reinterpreting my place settings are informed by their historical source. This involves how I chose the specific clay body and surface decoration for each set. On my Oribe set, for example, I used a stoneware clay, a black slip motif, and a green copper glaze to mimic the surface of the specific oribe ware objects I was referencing. From there the pieces are fired in different kilns to help reflect the finishes of the historical pieces.I am working through these ideas to gain a greater understanding of the history of pottery and craft. In a bachelor of fine arts program, there is often a gap of information on craft history in the traditional survey courses. Ceramics is so closely tied to history and tradition as it is a material that humans have been creating with since as early as 28,000 BCE. It is hard to avoid historical influence in a ceramic practice, but I am trying to go beyond that basic impact in my current body of work. These five different dinnerware sets became a collaboration between me and the historical references that I chose. I chose five styles to focus on because my familial dinner table is set with five places. All of us coming together is a significant part of my life and has a large impact on the way that I look at the world. The learning and growth that happens in those spaces of coming together creates a deeper understanding. Different ceramic histories come together for me to give me a similar deeper understanding of my own artistic practice. While all five of us are separate people and all five of these styles are unrelated they come together to form a wealth of knowledge. I am trying to physically represent these melding histories by giving them a literal seat at the table.
Open Access
Emma Mourfield: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Mourfield, Emma, artist
The artist's statement: Clay is a material that has a strong connection to the body, making it important for me to emphasize process and hand work within my practice. Because clay is inherently malleable, each touch creates a physical memory of the artist's hand. This bodily connection is shown within my work through focus on small details and finishings, instilling an intimate sense of personal touch in each piece. In order to further the personal connection between the medium and self, I often reflect my own style and autobiographical narrative into the pieces that I create. Using stoneware, porcelain, and casting slip, my work ranges from traditional wheel thrown pottery to slip casted sculptures. Within my body of work, I touch on subjects of form, beauty, design, self reflection/image, control, irreverence, humor, and play.
Open Access
Emma Thompson: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Thompson, Emma, artist
The artist's statement: Clay, as a material, holds embodied memory, recording stories of human touch and identity. The process of working with wet clay is intimate, meditative, and ritualistic. The act of shaping and modeling and carving, the labor of creation, is in many ways more essential to me than the finished piece. Sketching with my hands, finding the piece through the clay itself rather than forcing it into a predetermined direction, I find a rhythm that grounds me in the moment. In this place the shaping of each piece feels like breathing: something my body knows without having to think about it. My hands are my primary tool and through touch I find a conversation with the material. Exploring forms of the female body and of the earth’s body, which shift and morph to become one another, I explore questions of embodiment and identity, that are both personal and universal. Embodied memory is carried through the physicality of the clay, recording the ephemeral moment of touch in permanence. Drawn to the female body and evocations of female identity, I look across human history to find how my individual identity has been shaped along universal currents. What does it mean to reduce a female body to a series of shapes, with complex meanings and symbolism? What does it mean to fragment her, pull her apart, show only pieces of her body? How, in doing this, does she take up space? My process of creating bodies and objects of the body is intimate, healing, and reconnects me to my own body as safe, worthy, beautiful, enough. In creating pieces out of clay, the oldest form of human artwork and domesticity, I allow both the work and myself to occupy space. The body of the earth shares patterns and forms with the human body and becomes inextricable; through making, I find an intimate connection as I see myself as part of this larger body.
Open Access
Falan Francis: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Francis, Falan, artist
The artist's statement: Clay is my primary medium. It is both a tool to practice self-reflection and a tactile material from the earth. I ground myself when I use this tangible substance and become more connected with myself. Clay senses what the maker feels and reacts accordingly, it's a reflection of your state of mind. I focus on using clay to dissect and mend inner wounds by allowing my personal narrative to fuel the work. My work ranges from sculptural to functional ceramic pieces. The forms I make are an attempt to materialize the emotions I don't want to carry internally anymore. The process is intuitive and driven by experience and emotion. These experiences are a guide for form and surface design ideas. The stars speak to ideas of courage and independence, as well as the opportunities for growth that come from adversity. The child-like imagery and soft color palette are meant to instill feelings of nostalgia and longing in the viewer. I'm inspired by artists like Sonya Clark who uses her work to discuss issues related to identity and is inspired by lived experiences as a woman of color. Soojin Choi's work is also inspiring in how she works to visually represent complicated emotions in clay. Capturing complexity in feeling is an important aspect in this body of work. In my recent body of work, 'Feels like Home', I'm questioning home as a universal concept whose definition varies greatly from person to person. The crafting of a variety of functional ceramic wares; cups, bowls and plates, explores feelings of loneliness, comfort, and contentment. The large sculptures are the embodiment of emotional isolation and yearning. They work as vessels for the storage of pieces of ourselves, and our souls. By storing these complex experiences and emotions in clay, we create space to allow for conversation about what hurts us, where it came from, and how to heal. Making this space lets me create vessels that transform the heaviness into something beautiful. These are vessels for my younger self to store her feelings and have space to be a kid.
Open Access
Gianna Santucci: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2021) Santucci, Gianna, artist
The artist's statement: As an artist I have always been interested in the magical and the weird. Nature has been a powerful force in my life, and I have always associated nature with the idea of enchantment, strangeness, and the extraordinary. Our planet and our universe is cyclical and diverse. I incorporate the idea of that energy, flow, and movement into my work. One specific way that I create this is through my use of glaze, particularly choosing glazes with movement. When I find an intriguing glaze, I continue to explore its potential because each change and interruption in a glaze is inspiring and complex. I want my artwork to create a feeling of wonder for the viewer to create their own story of what it means. Within my pottery practice I make sculptures and wheel thrown pottery. In my current body of work I am creating large mushroom sculptures. As a whole, the body of work is titled Mushroom Social. I feel that mushrooms are a good representation of how nature can send energy and communicate. Mushrooms are known to function like the internet of nature, the mycelium are like wires that allow plants and trees to communicate through nutrients and electrical impulses. Mushrooms have a unique type of intelligence compared to what humans have. The form of the mushroom is also very alluring with its curves, shapes, and textures. My fascination in this has led me to incorporate many textures and colors into the mushroom sculptures. The faces on my mushrooms connect the idea of human communication and experience. I am making large-scale mushroom sculptures to try and connect the two very different worlds, one world close to the ground, and one much taller. I'm making a statement about how people need to start relating themselves to nature, plants, animals, fungi and the land. If people continue to live with the mindset of the human experience being the only thing that matters, then we are going to lose so many of these beautiful, intricate, flowing life forms. It is important for humans to decentralize themselves from the experience of life.
Open Access
Jiuchen Dong: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Dong , Jiuchen, artist
The artist's statement: Ceramic artistry is the tactile expression of my thoughts, emotions, and creative playground. My pots, primarily in the form of gourds, serve as a vessel of homage, paying profound respect to the spherical elegance of historical ceramic pieces from the city of Jingdezhen. The glossy surface treatments of each piece evoke a sense of cleanliness in this timeless craft. The Chinese characters and illustrations on the surface of the pieces intertwine the rich tapestry of my cultural heritage with a contemporary design sensibility, showcasing the harmonious coexistence of the past and the present. My immersion in the rich tapestry of Jingdezhen's ceramic heritage, where porcelain reigns supreme, stirred a profound introspection into China's illustrious ceramic past. In the heart of Jingdezhen, also known as 'the city of ceramic', I found myself on a quest to understand the resonance of this ancient craft and material. Jingdezhen, with its centuries-old tradition of porcelain production, carries within its streets the echoes of artisans who have shaped ceramic history for generations. As I walked through the workshops, observing skilled hands at work, I realized my journey transcended my artistic creation alone. It became an exploration of culture, history, and the enduring spirit of human ingenuity. White stoneware carries its own set of qualities and idiosyncrasies. One of the notable distinctions of white stoneware is its robustness and durability during the making process. It's a clay that marries artistic expression with functionality, allowing my creations to not only serve as aesthetically pleasing objects but also as practical vessels. In the execution of my surface treatment, I opted for a glossy white glaze to capture the pristine reflection of the clay's natural color. Drawing inspiration from my cultural background, I infused modern designs into the pieces. The resulting creations are a synthesis of history, my cultural heritage, and my personal journey, each element contributing to the unique character and essence of these works.
Open Access
Justin Donofrio: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016) Donofrio, Justin, artist
The artist's statement: Through the lens of functional pottery I focus on questions about our relationship with objects. I explore the concept of humanity's authority over landscape and record of construction as a form of time materialized. The geographical layered strata of each vessel represent fragments or glimpses into the density of every assemblage. With the intersections and overlaps, I contemplate the dynamic relationship between materiality and landscape and our attempt to control it. Each vessel is made using clay that is artificially colored to reference natural tones. The juxtaposition of the natural and artificial speaks to a notion of manicured space in an attempt to cultivate order. Focusing on the fluidity of process and materials as remnants of making, I work with a limited number of tools and movements to allow the clay to actively inform the line quality and elegant volume. Relying heavily on the physicality of the technique I generously push and pull these lines to develop an undulation that resembles natural rhythms. The harmony of repetition comes through meditation of movement. The presence of process in the work is essential as my forms are searching for confidence in their construction. The conversation between the stained clay and glaze, obscuring or revealing, explores a didactic look at color as body and color as skin.
Open Access
Kailee Bosch: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2020) Bosch, Kailee, artist
The artist's statement: My practice as a maker began at the lathe. As a child, working in my fathers studio, I learned to make small functional objects: spinning tops, bowls, and the like. I grew up making and thinking about round wooden objects. While this history of woodworking is it at my core, I have expanded my vocabulary of materials and processes. In this body of work, I am focusing on three materials: wood, clay and bronze. I’m interested in wood for its continual push at precision, movable only with the right technique and tools. Clay is different. It is extremely pliable with the ability for endless additions and subtractions. It can be manipulated with the simple touch of my hand. Bronze, has another character. It is not easily moveable in its solid form, but when heated it transforms into a beautiful, viscous liquid that can be cast into endless shapes. Each of these materials is important, as are the process, craft and craftsmanship that give them form. I make both functional objects and speculative designs, playfully and with precision and rigor. I am interested in parts that make up a larger whole, connections, modules and systems. I think about the advantages and disadvantages of a given way of working, how the process gives shape to formal elements. I am seeking an interplay between traditional ways of making that value the hand and newer technologies that allow for precision, and repeatability. I am inspired by the Bauhaus, ideas of everyday design tied to craftsmanship and functionality. Works such as Marcel Breuer’s tubular steel furniture influence and inform my practice. Each of my works rely on both my hand as the maker, alongside a range of tools and machinery: computer controlled machining, 3D printed connections, laser cut extruder dies – the marks of each of these processes are recorded in the work. The result is a variety lines, layers and textures, as the hand turned wooden spindles, bronze cast connections, and cut and manipulated clay pieces, each display marks of the maker. Space and installation are also important; the interaction of objects with their surroundings. My designs respond to architecture and the body. My works build and reflect upon each other, with each material, process, and piece informing the next.
Open Access
Kanani Ku: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2024) Ku, Kanani, artist
The artist's statement: As a potter, I create work that exemplifies the beauty of clay. By allowing my material to guide me as a maker, the clay pushes for new and exciting possibilities that might have gone unnoticed. Pottery is naturally beautiful and that formal tactility is why I enjoy this material so much. I work mainly on the wheel, using this wonderful tool to stretch and form the clay into a hollow volume, from there I push the boundaries of traditional set aesthetics by celebrating the unique imperfections of the me [the makers] hands through fingerprints and the evidence of human element through asymmetry. Through working the with the wheel as a tool and embrace the evidence of my hands I have found extreme satisfaction from clay.
Open Access
Kate Homel: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2015) Homel, Kate, artist
The artist's statement: The forms I make come from memories of my childhood: objects found in my grandmothers house, pinching pots in the creek bed, learning flowers while sitting in the garden with my mother. I am interested in integrating function with natural vessel shapes by abstracting natural structures into unique objects. Layers, containment, and time are fascinating to me. I see a connection between the process of coil building and tree rings. They both begin as small and systematic; then as time passes, they expand and warp in a way that gives shape to the entire form.
Open Access
Kate Zynda: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2021) Zynda, Kate, artist
The artist's statement: 1. Chair: a physical object that provides a place of support for a human body. 2. Sculpture: to make or represent, through action of process, a two- or three-dimensional object made of any material. 3. Clay: a fine-grained soil material consisting of hydrous silicates of aluminum and other sedimentary minerals, that is plastic when wet and brittle when dry. The substance of the human body; the human body as distinguished from the spirit. 4. Body: the physical structure of a person; the main part of something; a distinct material object. A clay body is the culmination of a variety of raw materials, with the main ingredient being clay, that yields a workable material. In reference to clay, a body is the main clay component with other raw materials that is separate from glaze. 5. Power: the ability to exert control, to varying degrees, and influence other persons, objects, or actions. Material informs value. Material brings specific meaning to the work. Material uses architecture to express new ideas about space. Material creates body. Material is used in an unexpected way. Vessels mimic the human body. The material adapts to the human body. Material reveals the body. Material needs body. Body needs material. Body dictates material. Lines understand the body. Clay directly on a floor is suggestive of earth and defines space. Division of space dictates how the user interacts with an object. Values are imposed by the maker, the audience, and by the object itself. Consistent material use diminishes a hierarchy. Repetition of texture in the objects and space they are in creates one cohesive work. Repetition creates cohesion and unity in space. Chairs are sculpture. Negative space explains the chair. Shape, line, and form present material. The form will communicate if it's approachable. Lines relating to each other throughout an object create the object. Line delineates the space of a shape. Curation of space allows for marginalized groups to dictate their spaces. The object and its placement allow the user to choose their desired privacy. The objects give the user an air of space. Invisible lines implied by the object guide the user. The object situates the user. Culture will influence the experience with an object and space. Organized material, form, and space embodied by the chairs allow them to become tools to clearly dictate a space. This dictation helps provide agency for marginalized groups. Although the space is meant to have wide access, the intent is to prioritize groups who are commonly othered. Site specific placement in public places provides access.
Open Access
Kelsey Hartmann: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2019) Hartmann, Kelsey, artist
The artist's statement: My work is heavily focused on how the varying environment and multi-step process of a firing can affect the outcome of the work. It reflects my deeper search for how the environment we live in shapes and changes the final outcome of who we are and who we are meant to be. In a way these processes replicate my growth as an artist. In my collegiate career I have attended two universities. College has been a series of intense trials and tribulations. This final semester was the most productive, healthy, and passionate. The creative ways in which an artist is able to manipulate clay and intentionally shape the work, even after it has set in stone, allegorically representing the many changes I have seen in myself over the last 4 years. I proudly represent two different universities, which house two completely different environments. My self identity was forged through the trials, tribulation, and hardships of Arizona State University, creating an immovable rigidity in who I needed to be. After moving home I was able to see how a dramatic change, akin to the changes within ceramics, can change how I viewed the work. I was able to seek acceptance, belonging, and self-actualization at Colorado State University. This body of work is an artistic summation of my entire collegiate career. My focus on functional wares stems from my desire to feel useful and functional. At ASU I was paralized by my mental illnesses and legal entanglement. I have struggled with bipolar disorder and Post traumatic stress disorder. I see my emphasis on process in ceramics as a reflection of the processes I have endured to make myself healthy again through extensive therapy, medication, and the repair of family ties. These illnesses are still ongoing struggles for me but through my art I seek to relate to others struggling with mental health and illnesses. My goal behind this work is to elaborate a bit on the way in which the process creates a metaphor for a psychological experience and an experience of personal individuation.
Open Access
Lauren Briese: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2019) Briese, Lauren, artist
The artist's statement: "Generating Texture" Texture is all around us. The ground we walk on is shaped by repetition of physical movements. When working with ceramics, touch - the impression of a fingertip - creates texture. These marks in the surface of the fired form will live in the world forever. Many ceramic surfaces are inspired by patterns in nature. My surfaces combine a texture made up of gestural pinched marks and textured glazes, that covers and explodes from the form. In my Ceramic Sculptures I think about both texture and scale. A large sculpture draws the eye towards the piece. Texture involves a dialogue between emotion and fluid movement. For me, texture is pure gesture. Gesture suggests freedom and fluidity that is both physical and emotional. When the scale of a piece is matched with a gestural surface treatment, the piece becomes an individual. As an artist, I have various intentions. I hope that viewers draw a range of connections from each piece. A viewer's opinion can influence future work. When I notice an association within a piece, I can further the idea or refrain from it. The texture and scale suggest a variety of mental images. These mental images allow me to understand the relationship between my hands, the clay, and my practice.