Soft Slab Shoe

For this project we rolled clay into slabs and molded the slaps into shoes. For this project we needed clay and a model shoe. The class cut the shoe into pieces and cut the clay in similar sized and shaped pieces. While making my shoe the biggest problem I was running into was my clay was getting to dry and cracked when I bent it. After I built my shoe, I let it dry and become Greenware. Then we fired it into

This is my shoe after I cold finished it. I painted it blue because I liked blue and it is the color of our school. We had to dry brush our pieces. Dry brushing is when an artist paints his or her piece with a small amount of paint so there are no brush strokes on the piece. It is called the dry brush technique because the artist paints with a very small amount of paint on their brush. After being painted I added gloss to make it shiny. I did this because I thought it would make my shoe more interesting. I like my final shoe, it doesn’t look realist because of the color but other than that it looks pretty realistic because of the stitching. After this project I learned that when working with clay in general my must work quickly or else the clay will dry out. I don’t like hand building much because I am a perfectionist and I feel like everything has to be perfect so I work slowly. However, I haven’t thrown on the wheel so I have nothing to compare hand building to.

AOI: Approaches to learning

Since this was our first time making something with clay the class as a whole learned something. This is why I thought approaches to learning was the best area of interaction to relate to this project. While creating our shoes we should have learned about the people around us, the clay, and ourselves. From the people around us we should have learned a little about how they see the world. From the clay we should learn about how to be one with the clay and have a deeper understanding of how clay works and what to do to preserve it. From ourselves we should have learned what we like about hand building and the clay.

It takes many voices to tell a single story

For this project our class each made fifteen pinch pots. We each made five yellow, red, and orange pots. After the pots were fired, we each made a unique design on each of our pots. On my pots I added stripes. After all the pots were done we took our pots outside and made a leaf using the pots. This is called installation art. Installation art is when an artist or a group of artists makes a temporary piece of art for people to enjoy and take pictures of. From this project I learned that teamwork is very important to do anything. Without this team work our art wouldn't be as good. Our final artwork was very good but it would have been better if it was bigger.

AOI: Environment

The area of interaction that best relates to this project is Environments. Art can affect the environment in many different ways. Art can physically change the environment by making the environment more interesting. Mentally, art can change the environment by distracting or stimulating the mind to perform better or worse. In different geographic locations the art is also different. For example, in desert cities the art has lots to do with water, either depicting water or incorporates water, like a fountain. The way I decide where to present my art is first to understand who likes my art. Then I present my art in locations with a high concentration of my fans.