Ceramics Portfolio Fall 2023

Zoe Koch Intro Ceramics Portfolio

Contents

Project 1 - Coil Vessel pages 2-5

Project 2 - Slab Float pages 6-7

Project 3 - Wheel Thrown Cups pages 8-10

Project 4 - Monument pages 11-13

Project 5 - Decal Page 14

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Kelsey Floyd is a ceramicist interested in the natural elements of our world and all things unearthed.

Her work can be recognized by her signature curved vessels restricted and pierced by chains.

Jessica Stoller works with porcelain to

combine themes of idealizations and their grotesque truths. She creates playful and sometimes uncomfortable sculptures that speak to her view on femininity in our modern world.

Project 1 - Coil Built Vessel Aug 23 - Sept 21

Precedent Research

I started this project knowing I was going to make a vessel that spoke of the concept of body and the human form. I researched three ceramicists that work with the themes of body in their work to understand how the concept has been previously illustrated within the realm of ceramics.

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Kate MacDowell is influenced by the

natural worlds inability to fit into our modern day industrialized society. She uses forms of the human body in her work to represent the human role in bridging nature and consumerist culture.

Process Work

After looking at precedents of other artist’s work on conceptualizing the body in a ceramic vessel, I thought about what I wanted to say about the body within my own piece.

These sketches show how I arrived to my final concept and vessel form.

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The Body is a… ceramic, spray paint, wire 8 x 10 inches

The Body is a… is a vase that embodies the tension and weight we willfully submit our skin to throughout our lives.

Through heavy adornment, body modification, or stressing habits, our skin becomes a reflection of our respect and care we give ourselves. Metallic, and cold, silver beads hang from pulled skin that has become red and left stretch marks in the imperfect skin represented by the blue, blood-filled body of the vase. Built in coils, the vase is given an imperfect texture, interrupted by the pained red scraffito stretch marks and contrasting with the smooth sharpness of the wire-strung bead clusters.

Paired with flowers, the piece can create further contrast between nature and manmade cosmetic intervention.

Afterall, the flowers are doomed to wither the moment they are altered to serve a human-centric purpose. Also paired with the vase is a matching metal jewelry dish containing objects used for the purpose of adorning our bodies. Among them are heavy metal chains, gauged earrings, stained rings, and the safety pin you occasionally stab yourself with in order to hold your clothing together properly. Some say the body is a temple but not all temples are well-maintained.

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Project 2 - Slab Built Float Sept 7 - Oct 12

Cicada Song ceramic, acrylic paint, wood, metal hardware 8 x 8 x 8 inches

Cicada Song is a celebration sculpture of the Eastern United State’s proudest and loudest singers. Sound, touch, and sight are all showcased in this piece that parade’s the Cicada.

A slab built base covered in bark-textured press molds make up the tree stump pedestal in which the adult cicada perches as it would in nature while it makes its famous drum-like buzz. Carved out trails leading down the structure reference the life cycle of the cicada. Once eggs are laid and fall to the ground, the cicada nymphs feed on tree roots until they eventually emerge from the ground and make their way up the trees where they molt and take form as adult cicadas. Much of the cicadas life is tied to the tree as its most essential resource for its every need.

Underneath the large dewy leaf roof and inside the tree stump is a wood and ceramic mallet stick which can be taken out and moved over the ceramic rungs in the back of the piece to make a sound with a similar cadence to the male cicadas mating call. Detached root pieces unearth themselves when placed around the piece to further ground the stump into the earth or the pieces surroundings.

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Apothecary jar (orciuolo), perhaps workshop of Giunta di Tugio (Italian (Florence), probably 1431, Maiolica (tin-glazed earthenware)

Project 3 - Wheel Thrown Cups Oct 3 - Nov 2

Historical Precedent Research

For this series, I combined a historical and contemporary cup reference to form a series of cups with qualities from both. I looked at and used renaissance apothecary jars as my historical reference and combined it with the functionality and designed conveniences of modern on-the-go cups such as water bottles and single-use coffee cups. What stood out about the apothecary jars was their intimacy and individuality despite being used to contain medicinal contents which are typically handled with sterility and regulation.

In combining the convenient design features of our modern day essential to-go drink containers with the personalization and handcraft of the apothecary jars, I wanted to potentially highlight the loss of craft and humanity in our most essential modern designs.

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Pharmacy Jars, 1400s, Made in Florence, Tuscany, Italy, Tin-glazed earthenware

Pharmacy Jar, 1400–1450, Made in probably Manises, Valencia, Spain, Tin-glazed earthenware

Raw Vessel Series ceramic

This series was first and foremost an exploration of wheel throwing. Using handcrafted renaissance period apothecary jars and modern convenient water bottles as influences, these vessels are meant to combine the humanist and nature inspired touches of the historical cup influence with the modern convenience of twenty-first century cup standards. The vessels were made more usable by adding lids, handles, and shaping the cups to fit inside cup holders. The inside is finished with a shino glaze to make them more liquid proof, while the outside has been left raw to reference the natural material not commonly used to create the mass-produced water bottles of our age.

Motifs and patterns were painted on this raw surface by hand, telling stories of familiar faces and memories imprinted into these new vessels. All of the animals referenced are native to the southeast, including the eastern cottontail rabbit, the garden snake, the swan, and the white-tailed deer. A reference was made to the zodiac sign, Pisces, in the swimming fish adorning one of the vessels as well. An homage was made in some of the vessels to the paper work of Henri Matisse, whos abstracted leaf forms inspired the motifs on some of the vessels.

In a final display, the vessels were placed inside a handcrafted wooden spice cabinet which holds sentimental value.

Herbs and cuttings grown by the owner were placed inside jars and on the shelves to give the added experience of smell to this nostalgic piece.

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Javier Senosiain is a Mexican architect

and pioneer of the organic architecture movement. His iconic structures are very curvilinear and blended into nature. Senosiain will typically use Ferrocement with a sprayed polyurethane outer layer to construct his curvilinear structures, materials that can be poured and molded to suit his organic style and mimic the lush landscapes surrounding his structures.

Project 4 - Combined Technique Monument Oct 24 - Dec 7

Precedent Research I used this project as an opportunity to combine my work in Interior Design and craft by commemorating one of my favorite forms of architecture- organic. Coil built clay vessels share similarities with the imperfection and natural forms of organic architecture like superadobe and stucco structures. I wanted to use clay to create a model of one of these organic homes to explore that connection of art, nature, and architecture.

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Bruce Rowe is an Australian artist who

combines architecture with art. His pieces reflect an interest in light, form, and structure that result in pieces that evoke connections to our built surroundings. His work helped me see how architecture and ceramics have been combined already by other artists.

Organic House Painting And Ceramic Model ceramic, wood, acrylic paint, oil pastel Ceramic Model 17 x 17 inches Painting 25 x 25 inches Organic architecture is a style of building that promotes harmony between humanity and nature. In my final ceramics project, I wanted to explore organic architecture at a model scale. In doing this, I also wanted to highlight the handcrafted nature of these organic amorphous structures. Often, a main reason these structures are not common is because of the lack of artisans who are trained and experienced in creating them. These structures often are not built to be perfect or prefabricated in any way, instead being built on site, often leaving traces of the artisan’s hand behind. I used a coil building method in my ceramics piece to pay homage to this fact and pay reference to the construction methods of superadobe homes, or bag architecture.

The house design and layout itself was created in a motif that resembles a clover, a nostalgic and sentimental symbol of my upbringing. The 360 views through spanning cutout windows and rounded walking paths result in a constant connection to the outdoors beyond the clay walls. Even in the center of the house where a tree branch was staged to represent a central atrium allows nature inside and a near constant view of greenery.

The companion painting to the ceramic piece goes to represent the design process and further rendering of the model house’s features. Painted on a salvaged wood panel, a plan was drawn and rendered with abstract versions of typical architectural drawing symbols such as trees, walkways, and furniture representations.

Paired with the ceramic piece, the two create a lively narrative of a conceptual home with deep connections to nature and craftsmanship.

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Project 5 - Decal Project Nov 30 - Dec 5 ceramic, decal For this piece, I tried decal finishing on ceramic for the first time. I created a small lifted moon slab from some leftover slab cuttings and glazed it in white to create the base. Inspired by the lunar shape of the slab, I created a digital collage with elements taken from moon gardens, including flowers that bloom at night and the Luna Moth.

I shaped the collage to fit on the slab and applied it before firing the piece a third time to adhere the collage decal. The end result is a piece that can have any desired use. Pictured in the first slide of this presentation it was being used as a candle display.

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