Ceramic Arts Commons^™

On The Edge Of Being, Zoe Gross

Masters Theses

On the Edge of Being represents a focused exploration of clay, craft, femininity, fragility, and self-care. The title is hopeful. It represents a certain radical gentleness with myself and with my work. It reminds me that as hard as I try, there is always room to grow and improve. It is also a bit of a joke with myself; I am rarely satisfied.

I began this body of work as a way of rejoicing in the tamped down impulses of my early artistic career. I wanted to infuse my work with magic: color, texture, pattern, flowers, frills, lace, kitsch and …

Very-Asian Variation, Nicholas Oh

Masters Theses

Nicholas Oh is a Korean American Artist currently working in Providence.

Oh graduated from San Francisco State University and he is currently a graduate student at Rhode Island School of Design.

He focuses on creating clay sculpture and mixed media installation that deals with race and identity as a Korean American in America.

Oh has done residencies at Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, Japan and Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Colorado and has shown at Mills College Art Museum in California, Milwaukee Art Institute in Wisconsin, American Museum of Ceramic Art and Pence Gallery in California.

In The Marketplace, Anina Major

Masters Theses

The decision to voluntarily establish a home contrary to the location in which I was born and raised (The Bahamas) motivates me to investigate the relationship between self and place. To further explore my own migration and the emotional complexities that surface, with a desire to fabricate terms of cultural integrity and its defining influence. To express poetically the kindred ideals that resonate from home and intertwine those values to cultivate moments of reflection and acceptance. To promote encounters between past, present and future by weaving the memories of my own background and experiences, consequently unveiling a rich culture composed …

Wielding Daggers : The Female Uncanny, Stephanie E. Hanes

Masters Theses

This thesis document is a compilation of personal essays that analyze aspects of visual culture and philosophy. I am greatly interested in how this analysis is related to women bodies; the nude in western art has a long history of being constructed for the male gaze. This significance of the identification of women with the body exposes women in our culture to learn their own particulars for self surveillance. By looking into the mirror, what is reflected back? With these essays, I am opening myself to the unknown and the unknowable, revealing the paradox of feminist and philosophical scholarship. When …

Breathe, Iggy Choi

Masters Theses

Everything around us is interesting, but we Keep so busy we miss out what is importance. When we first get a gadget we get excited for few months, but soon we lose interest and seeking for something new and cooler. We are constantly hurt, tired, stressed, overwhelmed, but we are not aware because we are so focused on the future. We need to reset to get back on our track. We need to stay aware and remember our first excitement in order to refresh our purpose and focus. Life would be better if we step back, breathe, and notice what …

Between Material And Landscape, Martin Mcdermott

Masters Theses

Clay is a binary material. It is soft and malleable and yet becomes as hard as rock when subjected to immense heat. Its responsiveness to manipulation makes it well suited to recording touch in landscapes of surface. Its versatility makes it the ideal material for expressing other types of antipodal concepts: dark and light, banal and profound, temporary and durable. The sculptural objects in this body of work represent many of these contrasts through an investigation of various historical concepts within a broad definition of landscape art. The hollow clay “rocks” reference caves and grottos through apertures in the surface …

Empathic Exchange, Yu-Jung Kim

Masters Theses

My work explores the empathy existing between humans and animals. It is possible for humans and animals commune empathically by staring at one another. With empathy, human and animal connection can be built; comfort and healing can be found through this form of exchange. Non-verbal communication with animals may not often be thought about seriously. I aim to share the experience of empathy, comfort and power of healing through communication with animals I have felt, and to awake people with similar experiences in their memory through my works.

As a child, I thought I could not be truly understood by …

Memory: Tangible Decay & Growth, Rebecca J. Buglio

Masters Theses

What if the objects we had as children grew up with us and showed the decay, alterations, and new growth that occurred to us?

Natural sciences focus, in part, on the endless cycle of growth and decay. Through researching this topic, the question of current versus past arose to question how the mind evolves with age. As a ceramic artist, clay offers a memory through touch by taking the shape and form the creator wills it to have while still able to have movement and force of its own through the molecular makeup and processes it goes through in firings. …

Low-Fire Salt-Glazing, Rhonda M. Cearlock

Masters Theses

The purpose for this research was to investigate the feasibility of using rock salt for glazing a clay body at pyromatric cone 04 (1940°F). Four clay bodies were used to see which reacted best with salt at cone 04. Experimentation with additions of borax to the salt were used to see how they effect the covering qualities of each body, as well as how they effect body color.

Engobes used in the tests had different amounts of coloring oxides mixed with clay body number one and water. Colors ranging from light blue, green, and different hues of brown were achieved. …

Technician-Potter Versus Artist-Potter, Diann Marie O'Brien

Masters Theses

It is the intention of this paper to bring to the pottery student an awareness of the concept of technician-potter versus artist-potter.

The introduction defines the technician-potter as one who learns the technical skills involved in pottery making without going further into the creative, artistic aspects of his craft. An artist-potter is described as one who not only masters the technical skills, but also strives to be creative and make personal artistic statements in clay.

A thorough discussion follows concerning technique and the relevance of technical skills to the potter. It is concluded that the potter must master the technical …

Cone 5 - 6 Crystalline Glazes, Barry W. Kishpaugh

Masters Theses

The purpose for this research was to develop cone 5-6 crystalline glazes which will provide the potter with well-formed and large-sized crystals.

This firing range was selected for two reasons. First, very little information is available on crystalline glazes at this temperature range; and secondly, an attempt at conserving energy is being made by firing at this lower temperature.

Data obtained through this crystal research was gained via a series of 10 test firings. The kiln used for the testings and developing of the firing schedule for the Cones 5-6 crystal glazes was a Unique Kilns Model 2430, having a …

A Philosophy Of Art, Robert Erickson

Masters Theses

There is no universally accepted concept of the nature of art. Many are contented in believing that it is just some mystical quality. However, I believe that art is a basic human trait which has evolved over millions of years. This paper shall explain my own belief as to the evolution of art and how it is used by myself and other artists.

That which we believe to be true is a product of our individual experiences. In technology, religion, and in art there are no universal truths. All human beings percieve the world in different ways.

Two billion years …

The Pottery Industry Of Tazewell County, Illinois, Alice Ann Reif

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Eight Teacher-Potters, Bob Daugherty

Masters Theses

This paper presents a survey of statements and the works of eight teacher-potters in Illinois. The works range from simple functional ware to funk art objects. The firing temperatures range from low fire white ware to high fire salt. The styles of the work are many; the philosophies of the work varied; and techniques of the work are diversified; but common to each work is its creation from idea to actuality by the teacher-potter. Beyond depicting the work, the paper attempts to establish the teacher-potter who created the work by showing photographs of him and by presenting his ideas and …

The Sequential Development Of Decorative Forms And An Analysis Of Sculptures Produced During The Final Stage, Larry Edward Sluder

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Dominant Aesthetic Influences Affecting My Work As An Artist, Noel Kenneth Heffley

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.