Ceramic Arts Commons^™

Stil-Life, Yi Xiong

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This written thesis is the supporting documentation for Still-Life, my Master of Fine Arts thesis exhibition. I use handmade ceramic still-life objects to depict my specific memories and experiences about my life before and after the pandemic. Death, hope, time, and emotion are the themes explored in this exhibition.

This installation of ceramic sculptures not only recreates a historical moment in the pandemic but also captures the current times that we live in. It records the artist's life and time during the COVID-19 pandemic. The selection of still-life objects for the exhibition often has special significance on a personal, cultural, …

Repercussions: The Pressure To Be Thin, Shuhan Liu

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

My MFA thesis and supporting exhibition will highlight ceramics work I have created with the intention of dissecting the relationship between a soul and reality to convey the story of tension and anxiety and show it in a way that would let viewers identify with my discomfort and anxiety. The inspiration for my work came from the severe body anxiety that I faced that broke out during the three years of psychological stress caused by the pandemic. Using personal narratives as a starting point, I created object-based artwork that addresses the external pressures I feel to be skinny. As an …

Beauty Still Lives Here: Narratives Of Radical Self-Love, Deshun Peoples

Masters Theses

This exhibition is primarily concerned with the act of taking up physical and socio-political space. Through the use of form, design, color, and installation this work places various histories and traditions of both ceramics and resistance in communication with one another. The red, black, and green of Marcus Garvey’s 1920 Pan-African/Black American flag are proudly displayed against a warm, calm, pale green backdrop to highlight the importance of mental health in all endeavors, especially in the emotionally taxing labor of social, political, and economic protest in the battle for humanity, life, civil rights, equity, access, and decision-making power.

Yellow, Sisi Chen

Theses and Dissertations

The following paper is a constellational unpacking of yellow through notes on critical race and feminist theories, myth, science, science fiction, disparate histories, cyborgs, biography, virtuality, materiality, fungi, porcelain, language, internalization, melancholia, smells, sounds, tastes, feels, and more feels.

Tension In The Curve, S.K. O'Brien

Masters Theses

This artist’s book is a meditative narrative on my making and exploration of materiality.

It’s the best way to allow you entry and understanding into how I see.

Finding the tension in the curve and the lines and shadow and light that are created,

These new forms that appear when stress occurs help me understand…

With Eyes Unclouded, Tiffany Tang

Masters Theses

Tiffany is interested in creating purposeful connections and direct relationships through this vehicle of functional work. The scale of the work is made for the tabletop, asking to be handled and enjoyed. Her work takes a lot of time. Everything she does to the piece has a purpose. There are many stages in the process, and each informs what the next step will be, leading to the work existing as an accumulation of experiences. The use of colors and patterns are a form of inviting joy into the work. Blue greens, dark teals, serenity blues, pastel pinks, rosy quartz, palest …

I Think You Were In My Dream Last Night, Josie Cotton

Senior Projects Spring 2020

I Think You Were In My Dream Last Night

I have always worked by creating opportunities for mistakes and then fixing them. I’ve taken inspiration from the things I pick up every day: cups, necklaces, coat hangers, tables, chairs. I’ve taken inspiration from my dreams. They are always based in reality but twisted into a shape I’ve never seen before, and I wonder where these ideas come from. When I wake up, the people or the places I dreamt about are changed forever by a new perspective, out of my control. That is an idea I wanted to sift through …

Wonder, Katriona Drijber

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

WONDER is an exploration of the point at which what we know and what we think we know begins to break down. I melt and erode the perfect patterns I worked hard to construct through the manipulation of kiln atmosphere, using excess carbon, wood, and soda ash. I then add ephemeral, delicate imagery of animals in china paint. These steps introduce elements of the unknown and unpredictable onto intimate objects at the core of domestic human life. By disrupting organized patterns and reintroducing the animals we share the world with, I explore the question: What is lost when we surround …

Essence, Fatimah Ali Alhazmy

Master's Theses

Essence

Essence is in the artist's soul, where visions of flowers are transformed into reality through ceramics. The natural beauty of the Arabian jasmine flowers and their distinctive fragrance were very impactful for me at an early age.These flowers fill the air in and around each house. This is what has inspired my current work.These specific flowers were chosen for their harmonious colors, soft curves, and symmetrical formsthat resemble the shape of a woman's body.I create thrown vessels and sculpt forms, then individually attach delicate, handmade flowers to each of the forms. Typically, I work with high-fire porcelain paper clay …