My Outstanding Hand-builders (part 2)

 

Extruded hand by Carlos Garcia-Alcantar

Last time I posted about half of the coil, print, slab, and extruded projects from my hand-builder's first project. As I said at that time, I have lots more to show from that class. The pieces on this page are mostly the other half of that first project, with a few pieces missing and a few added from the last project. I plan on at least two more posts of this work to share them all.

Coil avocado by Valeria Alvarez

The first and third project in class have groups of students assigned to the slab roller, extruder, and 3D clay printer, as well as building with coils. Students will do two techniques in the first three weeks and two different techniques in the last two weeks of building.

Coil form inspired by a termite mound, by Derek Arneecher

Starting in the middle of the quarter, students learn to glaze. They start glazing around week 5 and are allowed to glaze any work throughout the last half of the quarter. The last week or two of the quarter are focused mainly on getting their work dried, fired in the bisque firings, glazed, and then glaze fired, and we raku fire, too.

To create his hand, Carlos extruded some large hollow tubes and lots of small hollow tubes for the fingers

Students have four critiques in the hand-building class, for building projects 1, 2, and 3 and for the glazing project during finals week. The second project in the class is the solid portrait project. 

Carlos altered the shape of the middle hollow form to create the concave shape of the hand, but left the fingers open, showing some of the construction

The first and third projects really combine 2 building techniques and 2 separate builds into the three week project, so by the end of the quarter, students have built at least 5 objects (as well as a mug they created during week 1). This quarter, several students had projects that consisted of multiple separate pieces displayed together. A few students even made extra pieces in between or along side their main projects.

Carlos Garcia Alcantar was one of the first students this quarter to print 

In class or online, I share lots of pictures of the solid portrait projects done by previous students, so current students can get inspired and also see what sorts of things are possible from peers (as well as from professionals). 

He used the 3D printer to print a series of hollow forms that remind me of Tetris shapes. The forms stack or nest together in a variety of combinations

I have lots of examples of slab and coil projects in the studio, as well as photos of this work online and on their assignment pages. These two techniques (slabs and coils) continued to be used during the pandemic when my handbuilding classes were entirely online.

Brooke Mason took a very different approach to coil building, creating a coil built body later, after using the individual coils to create tentacles for her Kraken (unfinished view above)

But I've had fewer examples of the printed and extruded projects, in part because we couldn't do them during the pandemic and in part because I started using these tools as the basis for beginner projects later in my career. 

Slab built lighthouse with lid by Brooke Mason

I'm pretty excited to have great examples and lots of variety in these projects for next quarter's students. I've got the photos from project 1 (mostly) here and in the previous post. There's some exciting stuff that was just finished before Thanksgiving, and that I hope to be able to share later.

Extruded vases with extruded antlers and horns by a student

I was also hoping to put together a list of troubleshooting tips and suggestions for these techniques. I created troubleshooting and tips pages for slabs and coils when we were online, at the request of my students, but haven't had time to make these pages yet for the on-campus class.

3D printed turtles by a student

I was thinking of asking my current students to provide suggestions for some of the tips, because they know what was particularly useful or helpful for them this quarter, but when I asked, during critique, if they'd found the existing lists of troubleshooting tips helpful, I was greeted with silence. Apparently they hadn't ever looked at the troubleshooting tips pages.

3D printed vase by Amy Matson

I was honestly a bit stunned. I thought putting together so many online resources would be something all students would appreciate, not just online students. This quarter's class is hybrid, meaning that they're responsible for an hour of online class time, plus some online homework, but the question and (lack of) response the other day has me rethinking how they approach the online parts.

Nesting form, slab-built by Amy Matson

I am teaching the same clay classes in winter quarter this year, which means I get an instant redo on some of the format of the class. This fall I was making some substantial changes to the classes, especially the hand-building class, because last fall I had taught both clay classes with more online class time and less on-campus class time, as well as less studio access than usual. Last fall we were also trying to socially distance.

The many pieces of Amy Matson's nesting form, unstacked

Not insignificantly for me, last fall I was going through the distracting process of getting diagnosed with breast cancer and getting ready for treatment. Then I was on medical leave for winter and spring quarters (and summer) while I did 18 weeks of chemo, multiple surgeries, and 7 weeks of radiation. So returning this quarter felt like I was coming back after a long time.

Extruded trick teapot (based on the poisoner's teapot) by Amy Matson

For winter quarter, I actually have an additional clay class besides the two repeats (beginning hand-building and beginning wheel throwing). This fall I had 1 intermediate wheel student whose class was "stacked" on the begining throwing class, meaning their classes met at the time time. For winter quarter, 6 students are continuing into intermediate hand-building. I teach intermediate handbuilding stacked with begining hand-building, so that means nearly half that class will be intermediate group!

The teapot body and spout were both created out of two extrusions. They can hold two different liquids and the person pouring can control which one comes out. 

I am excited to have so many intermediate students, but it will take some thinking about how to organize the class, since I won't be able to have 4 groups of 3-4 beginners working with every tool. On the other hand, I will have 6 ringers in the studio, most of whom know how to use all the tools and techniques, and all of whom know how to work with clay.

3D printed (cat faces), extruded (coyote bodies), and slab built (cat face shapes) wall-hanging with cats and coyotes by Amy Matson

The absolutely fun and exciting thing about having intermediate students in a class is that they usually are students who work fairly hard, and their skills are, of course, more advanced.  All of this means that beginners working alongside these students see hard work modeled, and get inspired by the work the intermediates are making. I'm looking forward to seeing how that turns out in winter.

coil built form by Amy Matson