GEVA 411 Project Proposal 1

This semester I will explore making functional ceramic objects that foster sharing and shared action.

I am setting these themes functional; sharing as a framework to experiment with both process and form, but within that I also intend to learn how handmade, in my case ceramic, objects connect to building community.

To begin with, I am interested in tableware used for sharing food. Looking to models of communal eating within other cultures (particularly Ethiopian goorsha ritual; Indian thali plates; Chinese lazy susans) and seeing how these can help inform my contemporary approach.
With consideration to eating area, number of participants, accessibility and inter-personal interaction, a number of plate-like forms are possible. I am thinking about expanding the generic circle to something less common and more intrinsic.

As for building process, I am open to either hand building or slip-casting, but in both cases I think a drop/slump mold, at the very least, will be employed. I want to spend a little time in material investigation to compare the effect of medium fire stoneware vs a more porcelaneous body. This will also be a time that I plan on experimenting with surface texture and decoration. For example, it is important that hand/finger traces are visible, even featured. For both myself as a craftsperson and for the eater, a reminder of the hand and the handmade must be realized. I am and will continue to look at other whose studio practice is based upon the handmade craft, such as Ayumi Horie, Heather Dahl, Nathalie Lahdenmaki and Kristen Nelson, to name a few. I am also very interested in the discourse surrounding craft and will continue to read and reflect on such theories in this blog.

As of this writing, I have four weeks before my first group critique. In this time I would like to create a simple plate-like mold and play with various hand-built forms, possibly making a mold of one of these for slip-casting.  I plan to have a few fired plates to show on my October 20th crit date.