Dallas Vasquez
Ceramics 1
"Free"
Caldwalader-Guild's sculpture 'Free' depicts an African American man perhaps a slave that appears to still feel the pressure of his bondage as he leans against a tree stump. 'Free' is a 3-dimensional object having volume and thickness with its texture to be of a smooth appearance. The value is more of a medium to dark tones. The size is well proportioned and visually equality in shape and well balanced. There doesn't appear to be any directional movement as the figure is stationary. Emma Cadwalader Guild was born in Zanesville, Ohio, in 1843. She spent much of her artistic career in Europe, establishing studios in London, Berlin, and Italy. 'Free' was sculputed in the late 1800's and was made out of Basswood. My interpretation of the scupture appears to be sad and he has a somber emotion. I believe the sculpture was successful because it describes the setting of what slaves endured during that time period. For an artist to create a sculpture with human-like details during 19th century era is definitely good artwork. The craftmanship of creating with perhaps with one piece of wood by hand since computer technology was not in existence in the late 1800s proves that Caldwalader-Guild was talented.
'John DeWeese Pottery'
John DeWeese's Pottery depicts of a vase that appears metal perhaps bronze. The pottery seems odd and challenging to figure out whether it is to be used for water or holding flowers, or just simply as a decorative creation. The form is three dimensional and can be viewed from all sides and angles. The shape has different contours as the base is small, the body is large and round, then neck is a medium geometric. The value is dark in color which gives it a bronze texture. The principle aspet is well balanced in composition for most of the pottery until the handle becomes more rigid. Without knowing the historical roots of DeWeese's work of pottery, a composition can still "work" aesthetically but it may lack definition because I don't know the artist's cultural/historical background. John DeWeese is an artist during the current time period (20th-21st centuries). I think that the vase is dark in nature and could have been something used back in the times of the Renaissance. I don't believe that this was a successful piece because it was very hard to understand the artists' concept or idea. It didn't really showed many emotions or mood other than it being a very dark creation.
Broke
Initially this was to be a vase, however, it did not turn out to be as expected. I wasn't planning on making it like how it is, but broken or not, I actually rushed this piece. It came out crooked and broke into other little pieces. I used the slab method to create my project. The problems that I encountered during its creation was that it did not want to stay straight in its form and I kept changing the design. By solving the problem of the vase being crooked was the reason for trying to change the design hoping to correct it. The one thing that I would have changed in my project was to plan a better shape and perhaps a different method to build the slab.
Cowboys
I am a die-hard Dallas Cowboys fan and wanted to create a project to symbolize the team. In this piece, my intentions were to make it even on each side of the cup. But I didn't take enough time into my piece and rushed this artwork. I used the slab method to make most of this cup, but it eventually turned out uneven throughout. The main issue that I encountered was the uneveness of the cup. I attempted to reshape the project but I just couldn't get it to work out. The one item I would have changed would have been to take my time and build a better slab and sculpture.