Courtney Diedrich: capstone - Diedrich, Courtney, artist (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2015)
Colorado State University Art and Art History Department capstone project.
Capstone contains the artist's technical statement, a list of works, and images of works.
The artist's technical statement: Over the course of this semester I focused on two processes, incorporating a new building technique and testing reduction glazes. Building: My technique for building the three separate parts (lichen, spikes, and spores). was different for each one: Lichen: the clay wetness was important in making these, I would break apart a small 2” ball of clay into chunks of clay the size ¼” or smaller. Too wet and the clay would want to stick to the wooden tool I used, too dry and it would crumble. Using a wooden tool that had a rounded ball on one end I would use my finger to wrap the clay around and then pull it off. In their wet state they are hard to works. with so I attached them when they were bone dry, slipping and scoring the surface of the piece that I was attaching them to. Spikes: the most forward of all the components, I just rolled miniscule coils with my pointer finger. I would let these set up until bone dry, to put them into a piece I would poke a "pilot" hole with my need tool and then stick it in. The direction of the needle tool hole dictates how the spike will sit on the surface. Spores: I would start out with breaking up a small amount of clay into various balls, using the shape of the ball I would roll an uneven coil so that one end would be pointed and narrow the other bulbous like. Taking a wooden pointed tool I would stick it in the large end and slightly press the outside edges to make them thin. I would also let these set up to bone dry and taking a different wooden tool with a larger pointed end than the needle tool would make pilot holes and stick them in, I applied underglaze after they were bisqued. I tested about 30 different glazes in the reduction kiln and found six that I were stable, had good qualities and different affects depending on the application.