Ardith Fish
Enoch, Utah
BS in Art
Creative Engagement track
Thank you
I'm a ceramic major, so by my thinking doing this project in ceramics was the right thing to do. I also wanted to use other things on this piece, that I have learned at the SUU art foundation courses.
. The piece was made with ceramic material, and fired in a cone 6 kiln. I choose not to use any glazes, but rely on different colored slips. I studied local flowers, and used them in my motif. Using Chinese painting principles, I decorated this piece with simple high desert flowers, and Chinese calligraphy, translated into Chinese, from a poem I wrote. My main inspiration came from my deceased wife, and the CAPS center, who helped me with my grief.
The major of major setbacks happened when I had an air pocket, and the piece, (for lack of better words) blew up in firing. At this point I used up my entire vocabulary of four letter words, and went back to work. I mixed special clay, with special slip and rebuilt the whole thing. The next major issue was doing the calligraphy It takes years to master this art form, and I had months. After a good 10 hours doing and redoing I was finally satisfied.