Glowing Translucent Porcelain of the Sea.

Dear fellow classmates.  It is a joy be taking this course with you all.  I am an ECON major and love getting to experience the Architecture department.

My first college course was a dual-enrollment course I took while in high school.  Most of my experience with pottery has been on the throwing wheel.  I love ceramics....the whole process of imagining, working with the clay, and then completely transforming the creation into something akin to stone by baking it at 2000+ degrees!  I love that ceramics, although brittle, have the potential to last thousands of years. 

I love throwing pots, but I have been attracted to the idea of making architectural ceramics for some time.  Emulating MC Escher with bas relief tiles does not sound like homework, it sounds like fun!  I am looking forward to playing with different 2d geometric patters and adding the third dimension through the sculpting or computer rendering process.  My goal is to bridge the gap between symmetry geometry with the organic sensibility of natural forms.  I want the viewer to feel good, or at least something positive, when they view my wall tile installations.  I also want the viewer to gravitate towards touching the tiles and have is be a sensual experience, like one would touch a perfectly polished rock on the beach and feel some sort of delight that nature had effortlessly made such an elegant yet simple thing.  

In my search for inspiration from other artists, I came across David Scott Smith.  He makes very thin and therefore translucent porcelain pieces that he mounts on the wall with a back light.  He says they are "yummy" and I agree.  Although they are not really what I want to make, I was intrigued  and appreciated seeing a new approach to working with ceramics.  I hope you all enjoy these as much as I did when I first discovered them.        

To see more of his work, check him out here, http://davidscottsmithceramics.com/section/155491_Playthings_II.html