Ceramic Arts Commons^™

Second Nature: Impressions Of Place., Trish Korte

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For my art practice, I grow and forage my art materials for eco printing, a direct contact printing method that reveals leaf shapes and hidden imagery through heat and pressure. I take specific cues from surrounding materials, objects, and environments. Tree systems and compelling textures of fungus are interpreted through ceramic and fiber. With an ongoing collaboration of natural materials and eco printing processes, my art speaks symbolically and metaphorically through imagery and materials. This thesis and accompanying exhibition present an examination of current work in context with an ongoing investigation of natural materials and eco printing.

A Fragile [In] Tension, Jose Homero Gutierrez, Jose Homero Gutierrez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The exhibition, a FRAGILE [In] TENSION, is a compilation of 6 sculptural installation works—the result of two and a half years of work in the ceramics workshop— combining various ceramic procedures, incorporating crochet techniques, and repurposed materials. Each of the materials represents specific memories of the past linked to a place of origin and people deeply attached to me, representing complementary feelings. Ceramic objects were created on the potter's wheel and subsequently joined, modified, intervened, and added to their corresponding installations following a series of self-directed design rules. The sculptures are an emotional, psychological, and physical response to the past …

Meat The Future., Xin Chen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research focuses on the subtle relationship between human life, the environment, and other animals that we live among every day. Under the mainstream social background of capitalism and a commodity economy, animals are the victims of constant consumption and exploitation. However, meat is a basic substance for human nourishment, especially in certain cultures. As a result, meat becomes an important part of the commodity economy in capitalist societies, wherein the supply must be filled to accommodate society’s demand. This research formed an exhibition using glass and ceramic artwork using a playfully satirical tone to offer a crucial alternative: how …

Echoes Of Home, Hanna Traynham

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The artist discusses her Master of Fine Arts exhibition, Echoes of Home, held at the Tipton Gallery in Johnson City, Tennessee on display March 15 through April 8, 2022. The author provides insight into concepts and influences relating to the creation of the exhibition with perspective on her intimate connection with place and memory.

The exhibit features five installations addressing home, elusive memory, and the change and continuity of cultural traditions over time. The works consist of a series of large-scale wild clay vessels, gestural clay bookends, a wall installation of cups with a line drawing, suspended porcelain slabs, …

In Hindsight: Non-Visible Patch Points, Erik Ordaz Lozano

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Exhibition consisting of seven ceramic vessels. I constructed these objects on the potter’s wheel by throwing and joining sections together based on a set of loose measurements and visual guidelines I have developed using slips and underglazes for mark making and soda firing for final surface treatment. This work is the result of my reflections on the concepts of form, shape, balance, time, and connection.

Journey & Connections, Aldo Ornelas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Journey & Connections is a series of work comprised of ceramic sculptures that explore my personal experiences in relation to the human figure, immigration, and nature, as well as experiences influenced by my continuous travels between my country of origin and the United States.

This exhibition is composed of an Installation titled “A Line on the Wall” and a series of six sculptures that resemble monoliths, strong and expressive figures of spiritual origin that represent important figures in life, sources of wisdom and stelae that connect to the earth.

Nonautomata, Jeremy Haynes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is a formal examination of the exhibition titled “NonAutomata” by Jeremy Haynes, as partial fulfillment of requirements for a Master of Fine Arts degree from Stephen F. Austin State University.

By examining the psychological influences within my artwork, I question the assumption that we are all just organic machines built with the same parts although we are all assembled and wired differently to perform specific tasks in society. I recall my personal experiences and how these influence my reactions to everyday life. While using clay with traditional and non-traditional processes, I have been …

Impulsion, Nicholas Meyer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The nut, bolt, and thread are symbols of order in my work. They represent a memory trace of my time growing up in Iowa and my connection to working on the family farm. These objects have the potential to exhibit elements of both simplicity and complexity, expressed through patterns and harmony, and the repetition of form, line, color, space, presentation, and ultimately, their relation to you the viewer. With this body of work, I intend to create metaphors relating to connections people have to one another, as individuals, society and ultimately as a reflection of self. The act of grouping, …

Irrational Aggregates, Courtney N. Ryan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis paper examines the work included in my Master of Fine Arts thesis exhibition entitled Irrational Aggregates. The goal of this work is to facilitate a dialogue between our natural environment and the excessive consumer-based environments in which we live. Combining a variety of ceramic techniques including hand building, wheel throwing, and casting these sculptures appear to be grown from, and even taken over by nature itself.

Often drawing inspiration from my personal narrative, that of consistent upheaval, relocation, and adjustment to new places, my work can appear both grounded and in a state of motion. I believe …

Indirect Measure, Nicholas Boismenu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper is in support of my thesis exhibition “Indirect Measure” May 5th – June 3rd 2017, at the Reece Museum, located on the campus of East Tennessee State University. This document is an account of my examination into what constitutes art and the change in my perception of the utilitarian ceramic vessel during my research into the perceived difference between craft and art. Using broad definitions, I define what I believe art to be and how it is different from, and the same as craft.

Interwoven, Preston Tolbert

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

I am regularly amazed by the power of artifacts. Objects can translate intent, skill, function, place, and time, causing us to reflect upon the maker and past users. By incorporating basketry patterns on the surface of my pots, I am creating a connection to my heritage. My family made baskets back many generations. The patterns are incomplete and fade as they weave around the forms. This reflects the nature of objects that have been used to the point of collapse. We live in a society driven by partial consumption and indiscriminant disposal. When something exhibits wear, we get a new …

Visual Phallacies, John Howard Cummings

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Roland Barthes wrote that only after removing all of the author's intentions and traces can a work of art truly be perceived by viewers fairly (Barthes). A viewer's perception of the world is influenced by his or her individual subjective history, which is the product of his or her own experiences. But as the author of ceramic work, my influence is ever-present. Clay records every push, pull, spank, squeeze, and poke. It fully records its physical history and as well as my actions upon it. This thesis exhibition asks the question: Can a viewer de-contextualize familiar-but-contentious subject matter and be …

Passing Time, Bryan Horn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In today’s fast paced world based around expedience and convenience, we often find ourselves lost in the hustle and bustle of daily life. While keeping up with our busy schedules it is hard to find those moments of pause in which we can regain our composure. The ceramic vessels in Passing Time are about those moments in between, like the space between musical notes they are essential to our understanding and being. This body of work represents the building and maintaining of relationships, the welcoming space of home and establishing invitation through the act of giving and sharing. I use …

Rethinking Levanna Ceramics: A Tenth Century Short Term Occupation Site In Central New York, Christina T. Rogers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The analysis of ceramics located inside of a proto-longhouse at Levanna, an early 10th century site overlooking Cayuga Lake in Central New York have found the established typologies of the area to be less rigid and contain much more variability than would be expected. Levanna appears to be a short-term occupation site (ca. 30 years) containing a variety of ceramics. In past studies Levanna had been deemed an "Owasco" era (900-1400 A.D.) site by early and some recent archaeologists, yet the analysis of features and ceramics found during the 2008 and 2009 excavations help deconstruct the idea or concept of …

Offerings, Norma Acord

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As people we learn through observation. I observed at a young age the importance of using food as a means of celebration, gatherings, and comfort. At a young age, I saw that roles were given to the family members: my grandmother and mother were accepting of their roles as providers of food and my grandfather and father accepted their roles as providing through work. I made a conscious decision about the role I wanted to play. The role of providing through food and serving was more appealing to me. I have a lot of the same views on domesticity as …

Memory Scapes, Michael Lee Mccarty

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Through use, pots can become an intimate part of daily ritual, special celebrations, or moments of stillness. Not only can they can act as vehicles that connect the user to the greater meanings of life, but they do so "under the radar," below conscious awareness. They perform their task, waiting to be noticed and enrich their user's life. I make pots in an attempt to connect to others through quiet, useful forms with beautiful, subdued surfaces. Part of my goal in making pots is to elevate moments of daily life, to augment the time spent consuming coffee, eating, or having …