Take Silicate Weathering for Granite

Artist Statement

This piece represents the process of granite weathering into clays. On the outside of the mug, I painted a thin section of a phaneritic granite rich in feldspar, and the inside was clear glazed to show what granite eventually weathers to. I carved and painted the minerals when the clay was leather-hard, and used clear glaze after bisque firing. Last year, I took Igneous Petrology and grew very used to identifying quartz, feldspar and biotite under a petrographic microscope. I thought it would be interesting to illustrate this on the outside of a piece. We also spent the first week of this course studying silicate weathering, and I felt that leaving the bare clay visible on the inside of the mug would represent the products of this process. I chose to use B-Mix after working with the clay body during the Week 1 lab, and learning about its TO structure and lack of water absorption. I felt that it would be easiest to work with as I am still learning how to throw.

One of my primary goals at the beginning of this course was to make a mug—I wanted to make something useful and I had never been successful with throwing a taller piece before. At first, I really struggled with keeping the clay fully centered as I pulled the walls up, and would end up cutting off the rim several times throughout the throwing process. My pieces would end up as shorter cups instead of taller mugs, which was not what I was attempting. While working towards my final piece I had to learn and refine my centering techniques. I also struggled with time throughout this block, as I got sick over Thanksgiving break. I did not have enough time to throw and trim three pieces, and carving and painting the thin section on the outside took longer than I expected. I had to let go of perfectionism, which typically holds me back when I do art, and embrace that my mug wouldn’t look as professional as I wanted.

Learning about ceramics in this course through a geological lens really helped me understand the process of throwing on a deeper level. I have worked with clay before both in high school and at CC, but when my pieces would crack or I would struggle to throw because the clay was too wet, I would just get frustrated and not understand why. Now that I understand the shrink-swell properties of clay bodies, the importance of wedging, and how water impacts the phase changes of clay during firing, I will be able to correct errors during throwing and create stronger pieces in the future.