The subject in itself is based off of the cornucopia. When I say based off of I mean the complete and total opposite of. I closed of the wide opening at the end and shaped it more like a gourd then anything. I never meant it to be vegetable looking but it did aid me in the next step of progress. Since this was meant to be the opposite of prosperous I imagined the subject withered, cracked and dried. This is where my repetitive shapes finally came into play. I pressed small coils into the sides all around to form the withered husk-ish shape. I felt the work incomplete so I added another dimension by making the surface appear cracked by creating lines that resembled faults in the crust of the earth all around the coils. My work was not done though, on the lip of the piece I etched the words “Cracked, not broken” to symbolize a withered, cracked heart that has suffered decay and rot and still has yet to shatter but remains whole.
“How would you like the viewer to respond when they look at your artwork?” I would like who ever views my art to see the different symbolic layers that I have laid down for this to fully take shape. They first layer is the texture and actual shape, which creates the withered, dead look that would come with a negative horn of plenty. The second layer is the fact that it does in fact look like a heart. The third layer builds on the first two, this is the final layer that was put down. I realized it look like a heart but shaped like a gourd and I was puzzled on how to glaze it. I decided on combining dead and heart and painted it with a glossy red made from Bing cherry and Brilliant red and an avocado under glaze. These are the materials I used and I felt they were appropriate because I felt that the combination of the two reds on my test tile were the perfect shade of crimson. The green was a just a nice, zombie looking color.
A good deal of this work was made possible from suggestions from other students and Mrs. Barnett. I based most of the shape off of Juana’s comment “You could be able to drink from that”. The color scheme came from Mrs. B’s and Shane’s remark, “It looks like a heart”. I have a hard time putting ideas to “paper” so I do, at times rely on the comments of others to keep my own ideas flowing and I could not make the things I do without the help of others.
“How would you like the viewer to respond when they look at your artwork?” I would like who ever views my art to see the different symbolic layers that I have laid down for this to fully take shape. They first layer is the texture and actual shape, which creates the withered, dead look that would come with a negative horn of plenty. The second layer is the fact that it does in fact look like a heart. The third layer builds on the first two, this is the final layer that was put down. I realized it look like a heart but shaped like a gourd and I was puzzled on how to glaze it. I decided on combining dead and heart and painted it with a glossy red made from Bing cherry and Brilliant red and an avocado under glaze. These are the materials I used and I felt they were appropriate because I felt that the combination of the two reds on my test tile were the perfect shade of crimson. The green was a just a nice, zombie looking color.
A good deal of this work was made possible from suggestions from other students and Mrs. Barnett. I based most of the shape off of Juana’s comment “You could be able to drink from that”. The color scheme came from Mrs. B’s and Shane’s remark, “It looks like a heart”. I have a hard time putting ideas to “paper” so I do, at times rely on the comments of others to keep my own ideas flowing and I could not make the things I do without the help of others.