Looking with intention

 

(other objects "rocks" currently under fire"

For this assignment, I was "looking with intention" at scrap pieces of clay in the different stages of the process of throwing. While watching a friend throw a vessel I grabbed a few chunks of clay that they took off to play with. I smushed it between my fingers and tossed it on the table becoming more intrigued with the shapes and angles it was taking on and stopped, slowly detailed, and sponged it until each piece looked like river rocks that had been washed over for years.

I had thrown this cup a few weeks ago and made the grave mistake of over-trimming the bottom and the sides so it caved in on itself. Instead of tossing it to be recycled again, I took a hunk of wet clay and began playing with the huge hole I accidentally made in my mug. I stretched it out, brought it back in, squeezed it, and refined every curve like I did with the rocks. It was interesting to use the rigidity of the fully leather hard clay of the original vessel with the very malleable wet clay, something you're not supposed to do in ceramics because clay that is not of the same damp consistency connecting to one another will not stick together once dried/fired because moisture is escaping at different rates.  It turned out to be a pretty decent left-handed mug and gave me the inspiration to experiment with functional ware with more gestural sculptural aspects.