I recently participated in a four-person show in which each participant was asked to contribute eight pieces. I could have selected work from my inventory; however, I decided to create a series of vase pieces specifically for the show. I had a vase that I made several years ago that cracked in the glaze firing; however, it was one of those pieces that just seemed to hang around and was always set aside when I was purging less-than-successful pieces from the studio. I liked the form despite its flaws and decided to revisit this old piece, letting its basic form serve as the central, repeated element in the new series.
Techniques and Principles
I taught art in public schools for nearly 30 years, as well as a few years in a university setting. During my early years one of the things that I stressed with my young students was that even though some individuals expressed a natural visual aptitude and, in some cases, seemed to be “gifted artists” and often deemed the “class artist,” it did not preclude the rest of us (me included) from expressing thoughts, feelings, and ideas through art and craft in competent and expressive ways. Additionally, I shared that there were skills to learn, principles to guide you, techniques to practice, and rules to break.
With my elementary and middle school students, I taught a few simple design ideas. One overarching idea was to limit, relate, and repeat lines, shapes, forms, and colors to create a cohesive/harmonious composition. I would instruct students to choose a limited number of lines, shapes, colors, and textures to work with and to think of these elements as a family. Then, I would suggest they find ways to arrange these elements so that, like family members, they are different yet share a common element with the other parts. Finally, I told them that when they made a mark, used a color, or created a texture, they should repeat it throughout the composition as they explored ways to make visual connections between the parts. In later years, I would introduce visual hierarchy, movement, symmetrical and asymmetrical balance, finding a yin for a yang, center of interest, and the value of variety; however, the simple mantra of ‘limit, relate, repeat’ served as a good introduction to thinking about design. To teach these concepts, I would often project images of art onto a screen and then use a digital pen to draw on the image, revealing the design concepts at work in the work (1).
New Series
For this series, I made no drawings. Just started with the simple shape from the old vase form. I was aware of my thoughts as I worked out the design, and as I worked on a piece, I would “what-if ” my way to the next idea and found myself repeating the mantra I taught students years ago—limit, relate, repeat.
The forms were all slab-built from tar-paper patterns. With no internal support system, the tar paper, affixed with moisture and a roller to relatively stiff leather-hard slabs, created an exoskeleton that both supported and helped maintain the integrity of the forms. One advantage of this is that I could simply use the patterns I made for one form on the next. In some cases, I used the same pattern and changed its orientation without alteration, and in others, I scaled a pattern with scissors while maintaining a closely related shape.
Takeaways
While many folks use a computer drawing program to explore and design forms before making them, I found myself thinking about how I used the computer to draw on artworks with my students to reveal design concepts, and I thought it might be informative to do the same with the series I had just completed. When I did this, it became clear that the concepts of limiting, relating, and repeating visual elements were at play throughout the pieces, and the stripped-down images revealed the interplay between linear and curvilinear aspects of the design, yins and yangs. In some cases, the vases’ anthropomorphic nature becomes evident, with the base, body, and neck each representing a third of the total form (variations #3 and #4 in figure 2).
The final form (variation #7 in figure 2) deviated the furthest from the group, with its asymmetrical stance, and serves as inspiration for additional asymmetrical exploration. I was also surprised that at the show’s opening, it was the piece that received the most attention.
Tracing lines and defining shapes on a photo of a form can be a fun exercise to highlight design concepts at play in the work that may not be immediately obvious. It provides another way to analyze what you have done and may serve as the basis for future exploration.
Additionally, if you’re feeling creatively stale, I have found that revisiting old one-off pieces that have been shelved can inspire new work. You saved the piece for a reason. A part of it resonated with you, but at the time, you were done with it and moved on. Circling back to it years later with fresh eyes can produce good results, as most of the work has been done—you just didn’t see it at the time.
Dan Ingersoll taught K–12 art in the public school system for 30 years (seventeen of them teaching high school ceramics). Following retirement, he was a lecturer in art education and ceramics at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire for three years. He is currently retired and working in a shared studio space with three other potters at a local art collective.
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I recently participated in a four-person show in which each participant was asked to contribute eight pieces. I could have selected work from my inventory; however, I decided to create a series of vase pieces specifically for the show. I had a vase that I made several years ago that cracked in the glaze firing; however, it was one of those pieces that just seemed to hang around and was always set aside when I was purging less-than-successful pieces from the studio. I liked the form despite its flaws and decided to revisit this old piece, letting its basic form serve as the central, repeated element in the new series.
Techniques and Principles
I taught art in public schools for nearly 30 years, as well as a few years in a university setting. During my early years one of the things that I stressed with my young students was that even though some individuals expressed a natural visual aptitude and, in some cases, seemed to be “gifted artists” and often deemed the “class artist,” it did not preclude the rest of us (me included) from expressing thoughts, feelings, and ideas through art and craft in competent and expressive ways. Additionally, I shared that there were skills to learn, principles to guide you, techniques to practice, and rules to break.
With my elementary and middle school students, I taught a few simple design ideas. One overarching idea was to limit, relate, and repeat lines, shapes, forms, and colors to create a cohesive/harmonious composition. I would instruct students to choose a limited number of lines, shapes, colors, and textures to work with and to think of these elements as a family. Then, I would suggest they find ways to arrange these elements so that, like family members, they are different yet share a common element with the other parts. Finally, I told them that when they made a mark, used a color, or created a texture, they should repeat it throughout the composition as they explored ways to make visual connections between the parts. In later years, I would introduce visual hierarchy, movement, symmetrical and asymmetrical balance, finding a yin for a yang, center of interest, and the value of variety; however, the simple mantra of ‘limit, relate, repeat’ served as a good introduction to thinking about design. To teach these concepts, I would often project images of art onto a screen and then use a digital pen to draw on the image, revealing the design concepts at work in the work (1).
New Series
For this series, I made no drawings. Just started with the simple shape from the old vase form. I was aware of my thoughts as I worked out the design, and as I worked on a piece, I would “what-if ” my way to the next idea and found myself repeating the mantra I taught students years ago—limit, relate, repeat.
The forms were all slab-built from tar-paper patterns. With no internal support system, the tar paper, affixed with moisture and a roller to relatively stiff leather-hard slabs, created an exoskeleton that both supported and helped maintain the integrity of the forms. One advantage of this is that I could simply use the patterns I made for one form on the next. In some cases, I used the same pattern and changed its orientation without alteration, and in others, I scaled a pattern with scissors while maintaining a closely related shape.
Takeaways
While many folks use a computer drawing program to explore and design forms before making them, I found myself thinking about how I used the computer to draw on artworks with my students to reveal design concepts, and I thought it might be informative to do the same with the series I had just completed. When I did this, it became clear that the concepts of limiting, relating, and repeating visual elements were at play throughout the pieces, and the stripped-down images revealed the interplay between linear and curvilinear aspects of the design, yins and yangs. In some cases, the vases’ anthropomorphic nature becomes evident, with the base, body, and neck each representing a third of the total form (variations #3 and #4 in figure 2).
The final form (variation #7 in figure 2) deviated the furthest from the group, with its asymmetrical stance, and serves as inspiration for additional asymmetrical exploration. I was also surprised that at the show’s opening, it was the piece that received the most attention.
Tracing lines and defining shapes on a photo of a form can be a fun exercise to highlight design concepts at play in the work that may not be immediately obvious. It provides another way to analyze what you have done and may serve as the basis for future exploration.
Additionally, if you’re feeling creatively stale, I have found that revisiting old one-off pieces that have been shelved can inspire new work. You saved the piece for a reason. A part of it resonated with you, but at the time, you were done with it and moved on. Circling back to it years later with fresh eyes can produce good results, as most of the work has been done—you just didn’t see it at the time.
Dan Ingersoll taught K–12 art in the public school system for 30 years (seventeen of them teaching high school ceramics). Following retirement, he was a lecturer in art education and ceramics at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire for three years. He is currently retired and working in a shared studio space with three other potters at a local art collective.
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