Wednesday, November 14, 2018

Class 24

Dear Students
The last bisque firing for the semester will be this Sunday at 9am. Please have your work out for firing on the shelves. If the work does not fit on the shelves, text me to let me know where it is. 

Self-Portrait Busts
If you have gutted your bust and it is ready for drying, please text me immediately! We need to dry it in a tent and did not get to this in class on Tuesday because no one was finished. 

Thursday is cleaning day. If you are absent, your final grade will be lowered one grade. 
Sincerely,
Professor Urrutia

Friday, November 9, 2018

Class 23

Homework - For All
Please make a small maquette of how your work will be completely installed in the gallery.
To prepare for final, all green ware work needs to be out on the firing shelves and drying by this Sunday, November 11th. If you do not meet this deadline, you will likely not have glazed work for final. Please remember that this will mean that you will not have photos of your completed work to turn in for a grade which will affect your performance in the course considerably. 

As soon as you have work that comes out of the kiln, make sure you glaze it and get it back on the shelves with a note that states the firing temperature [Cone 6] and wads glued to prop it off the shelves. If you are being experimental with any glazing, make a diaper for your work. You may use existing diapers, but some of these do have glaze on them. Please make your own if you want it to be free of debris and try to have it bisqued before you fire it to glaze temperatures. 

Refer to the calendar for the last days to bisque and glaze. The deadlines are very soon.

Homework - Figure Sculpture

Statements
Please start making a rough draft of your statements for the last piece of the semester


Portrait Bust
These should be gutted and put back together by this Sunday, November 11th. Once you have done this, cover it in plastic for 24 hours. After this point I will be making a 'drying tent' for the work and this will accelerate drying immensely. We all caved work out in beginning. The only thing changing this time is that your form is larger and more complex. This means you will probably have to cut it a few time to get everything thinned out, just like we did with the hands. Once we put it back together, we still slip, score, and use coils to hide the seams. Making sure that the final form is completely enclosed will keep the bottom from cracking. Be sure that any slab you add to do this is as dry as the form you are adding it to. To dry well, your pieces should be left as thin as possible, but no so thin that it breaks under its own weight. It also cannot be so delicate that it cannot be moved without breaking once bone dry. I would like to put your work in the drying tent by the end of class on Tuesday, November 13th.

Tuesday, November 6, 2018

Class22

Dear Students
Finals will be the week you come back from Thanksgiving. Please plan your life accordingly so you can get your work done on time. 
Sincerely,
Professor Urrutia

Contact Portfolio
WORK
Please dry and fire all work you have made for the semester to bisque. Mix up your glazes and have these ready to apply by Thursday. If you are still working on pieces be sure to finish these by Sunday of this weekend or you will likely not be able to get your work dried and fired for final.

SKETCHBOOK AND WRITING
You should have a midterm and a final sketchbook pdf in your folder. You should be working on the final draft of your artist statement.



Figurative Sculpture

GLAZE PALETTE 
Please come up with a palette of at least 5 glazes to use on the work you have created for the semester. Of these 5 glazes, one should be shiny, one satin, one textured, and one matte plus a clear. Once you have these different textures, make sure you have at least 3 values within your collection: light, medium, and dark. Gather your recipes to show me on Thursday.

SELF-PORTRAIT BUST
For homework, you should be finishing up all the final details of your bust including, clothes, hair, and facial features. This entire piece should be finished and cut apart by Sunday this weekend or you will not finish in time to have your work fired and glazed by the end of the semester. 


Thursday, November 1, 2018

Class 21_Homework_Novemeber 1st

Dear Students
This is the last week to build anything new in wet clay. Please get all your pieces constructed by the established deadline. If you do not meet my deadline you will probably not finish the work for the course. At this time every year, some people feel the need to 'take' a bunch of clay to their dwelling to work on things beyond the deadline. Instead, please do your work here at school as I do NOT want a bunch of solid, hard pieces of clay brought back to me once the semester is over as these giant pieces are terrible to slake back down into usable clay. Please, don't be that guy!!!

If you are in the Figure Sculpture class, we will extend finishing the details of the bust so that the entire form is ready for carving out next Thursday. Everything else should be done and drying. Next week forward, we will be doing glaze work and writing. Any last minute details you have to do on your work can be done on your own time outside of class as homework [except for the bust]. Please be prepared to work on glaze and writing by having any research connected the final pieces that you have made with you. Additionally, please have your mask and your gloves. You will be mixing up glaze recipes and otherwise preparing to finish all work for the semester. 

Have a productive weekend!
Sincerely,
Professor Urrutia