Techniques Form

“Turning the sketchbook into clay.” – A Teacher’s/Student’s viewpoint.

FORM

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Form is often dictated by the technique a student wishes to use. When deciding upon form students should be exposed to a wide range of sculptural and ceramic forms to help them develop ideas based upon their own primary source material. Much can be determined by building test pieces that stand along-side the final outcome with equal importance. Indeed some of the most interesting work at exhibitions by professional sculptors can be the maquettes. I have often worked with students who produce maquettes that turn out to be far more exciting than a strictly designed form because they are discovered through process.

Initially, limitations occur due to impatience and the need to get something finished. I find myself constantly pulling students back, encouraging more reflection at every stage. The more time a student spends in the early stages of a form showing attention to detail the better the foundation they have to work on. This is particularly true when coiling.

This technique can produce beautiful simplicity or be as complex as a multi-faceted form though in my experience students who work with simple forms tend to be more successful provided they have control. A regular step back and a spin on the banding wheel helps to identify any imperfection in form. I always encourage students to build straight up into a cylinder to begin with until I feel they have control of the form. At this point a little creativity can transform the “pot” into the sculptural form with aesthetic value of its own.

Many students yearn for individuality from the moment they touch the clay and are impatient with restrictions. This usually leads to some kind of collapse and loss of confidence and interest. There is a school of thought that will argue that a student should be left to their own devices with complete freedom to do whatever they want to do. Ian Simpson says “Little formal teaching of drawing now exists and students learn to draw, if they learn at all, in almost the same way as a person learns to play a musical instrument by ear. In the same way, they learn that while they can achieve a certain facility, their lack of basic understanding of the basic principles of drawing limits them severely”. If a student is given a lump of clay and simply asked to make something without direction, the student is being set up to fail. I argue that with clear demonstrations and strict discipline in the early stages allows the student more freedom with form having mastered the technique in the first place. Recognition of the ability of each student should determine the timing and degree of freedom they can be allowed. With a little patience, form can be individualized very creatively with just a cut or join! Images from the sketchbook can then be applied to develop a truly original outcome.

Figure 5(a,b,c,d) – Year 12 AS development piece based upon still life by Cezanne and Matisse.  A coil built vessel is cut and reformed making a flared opening that gives the structure more form.

Figure 6 (a,b,c) – Year 12 AS development piece based upon still life by Cezanne and Matisse.  Studies based on Cezanne and Matisse have been drawn into specific areas of the structure and carved in relief before being painted with underglazes.

The form of one’s piece can be determined with drawings and obviously it is preferable to be connected in some way to source material. This does not necessarily need to be the case if the focus of the development is to be realized with surface treatment or design, which will be discussed later in this text. Discussion with students about their form is essential at every stage of development, both with individuals and as a group.

It is important for students to see an artifact for the qualities and possible meanings it could portray as opposed to its utilitarian context. In opening students’ minds to a wider spectrum of thought, it is good practice to instill the rationale of aesthetic value over stereotypical functional ideas, exposing students to a wide range of examples of other art forms and ideas associated with them in addition to ceramics. These lines of enquiry should constantly be followed in the sketchbook in order to build a foundation of ideas and meanings that can be developed as influences.

When discussing qualities of form, taking simple lines of enquiry can encourage students to ask questions and make comparisons of their own. Examples of starting points could be:

• Masculine/feminine
• Natural/Man made
• Dead/alive
• Growing/fading
• Ebb/Flow

But jellies are buy cheap cialis able to act a lot quicker as they are already in a fluid form.

• Organic
• Monumental
• Architectural
• Mysterious
• Uncomfortable
• Rhythm
• Rigid
• Mechanical
• Movement
• Tension
• Twisting
• Straining

Encouraging this kind of dialogue enables students to make connections in the sketchbook where refinement and development can take the idea further.

Process led form can be incredibly exciting to a student who can literally watch a technique grow. What they must do at this point is get back to the sketchbook and explore the possibilities of what they have just learned to develop forms. They now know a little about the possibilities and more importantly the limitations of the material they are using.

Figure 9 (a,b,c,d,e) – Year 11 Examination theme “Ordinary Extraordinary” Experimental maquettes have become part of the primary source in exploring the manipulation of a built structure.

Figure 9 shows how a student benefited hugely by allowing experimentation with coiling and slabbing techniques to lead her ideas initially. She was able to re-visit her primary sources and further develop ideas for form and surface. Figure 9e shows a slab formed vessel. The surface was formed by pushing from the inside in gradual stages. Trying to create these bulges in one movement will distress the clay and lead to holes and cracking.

Figure 10 (a,b,c) – Year 11 Examination theme “Ordinary Extraordinary”

Drawing from built forms has enriched the primary source input for this project and encouraged the student to return to the sketchbook to look for more primary sources for further exploration and experimentation. The development of ideas has become more focused and leads to a genuinely exciting outcome (figure 6) where form and surface experiments are realized with sophistication and innovative endeavour.