BEACHCOMBER - Thesis Proposal
It is my belief that pottery is often purchased as a memento of an occasion or as a way of obtaining a piece of the maker. Curiously, a person’s favorite bowl may not be the one that most conveniently fulfills all of its required functions, but the one most steeped in good memories. In a similar way, individuals may choose to pick up a leaf or rock as a souvenir of a vacation or special moment. The concept of my thesis installation will allow the visitor to explore both of these ideas
The exhibit will consist of an installation of functional pottery. Following my inspiration of stones pilfered from a California beach, I will re-create a feeling of endless natural objects strewn over an expanse of public space. The objects themselves will be simple pottery forms, free to the visitor as a discreet unit. Yet they will be part of an installation, so by removing them, the viewer must consider the ramification of their actions and the implied actions of others. It is not my intention to inject a moral implication into the public’s alteration of the piece, merely my desire is to explore the marriage between sculpture and function in an interactive gallery setting.
In order to create an allusion to a beach, the installation portion of the thesis show will consist of a scattered line of pots that extends across the gallery. The beach that my inspirational rocks came from was a sand beach. The action of the waves at this particular place had organized the stones into a meandering line that varied in thickness and depth. In some places the stones were jumbled onto each other but mostly they lay half-buried such that to remove them would leave a divot in the wet sand. The installation will also use sand as a canvas, but I will not bury them so deeply that the viewer could not see the forms of the pots.
The pots themselves will be minimal of form and surface. I will use a dark stoneware in a reduction-cooled gas firing. The clay will be blended with various amounts of light-burning clay to create variety in value from piece to piece. Flashing during the firings also will allow for subtle changes in the final hue of the surface within a piece, and some will have a sheen from an atmospheric kiln. By these choices of clay and fired surface, I will create pieces that most closely represent the muted variety of beach stones. They will be thrown and altered on a potter’s wheel, tending closely to the formal qualities of a weathered stone: asymmetrically rounded. The work in the installation will include bowls and plates of various sizes, boxes, and lots of cups.
To complete the body of work, a portion of the show will be installed on pedestals. These forms will be further in derivation from the same idea: mugs with handles, vases with a vertical emphasis, and compositions of pieces. It is important to me that all the pots be useful. To this end, they will be comfortable to hold or lift. Cups and mugs will be pleasant to drink from and bowls will feel good in the hand. That they stand and function individually as well as collectively is of paramount importance.
Beauty in nature is mundane. The American Heritage Dictionary defines art as “1. Human effort to imitate… nature. 2. The conscious production or arrangement of sounds, colors, forms, movements or other elements in a manner that affects the sense of beauty”. Beauty is defined as an “appearance or sound that arouses a strong, contemplative delight”. By the particular arrangement of pottery form into an artful imitation of nature, it is my dearest wish that my thesis exhibit will arouse in its visitors a “strong, contemplative delight”.
Careen Stoll
blog: http://treadlhead.blogspot.com
email: careenstollceramics@gmail.com
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