Monday, November 28, 2016

Making A Ball Of Clay Useful: BTS of a Pottery Sale at Ole Miss

The advanced ceramics students at Ole Miss hold their Christmas Pottery Sale each year in hopes to share their work with others on campus.

The public only sees the finished product, however, much more goes on beyond the rack in Meek Hall. One of the first steps they take is mixing their own clay. This takes advanced student, Ashton Keen, seven hours to do. Once it's on the wheel, it must be centered before the artist begins to make anything.


The advanced students have to fill up a kiln by themselves, which can mean making almost 100 pieces.
Challenges that arise with any ceramics student is ruining a piece they've already put in several hours making. Common mistakes include, students trimming a hole in the bowl, accidentally knocking it against anything, which ruins the shape and the entire piece, and letting a piece get too try to finish. When it's finally complete, the artist is left with a piece they've put their whole heart in and ready to share it with the world.

Click below to see more of what goes into making clay into something useful.



Proceeds will benefit the ceramics department by helping fund materials needed for the class, but some will be kept for the artist.


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