07.10.19
The activity I am currently doing is pottery, and I am doing it for season 1 and 2. The service that I have taken part in is Boomerang Bags, and I am the co-chair of the service hence I will be doing it for both grade 11 and grade 12.
I chose pottery as my activity this year. The reason I chose pottery was to do an activity that was different from what I normally would do. I wanted to learn to be more creative and wanted an activity that was relaxing and fun. In pottery so far, we have started to make structures out of clay. The first product I made was a trinket bowl, to keep small pieces of jewelry in. I initially wanted to start off easy, by making a basic structure and then further develop on it by making more complex structures later on during the semester. This is the second week, and I have sent my first structure for firing, and I have just finished making four coasters (for mugs). In the third week, I will be glazing and painting my bowl and then painting my coasters as well. So far, I am enjoying pottery quite a lot because we have the freedom to make anything. Initially, this was difficult for me as I am not good with arts and neither am I creative, but I feel that by the end of the two seasons I would have improved.
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14.10.19
This is the second week of pottery. This week I decided to make something different than last week. I have been wanting to make some coasters for mugs that I have at home. Eventually I want to have made many other home decoration items, as well as paint them in a way that they look like a set.
So far the challenge that I have faced is being creative with what I am making. I feel that I could be more creative (LO2), but I knew from the beginning that this would be a challenge for me as I am -not a creative person. But I hope to gain some creativity from pottery and hope that by the end of this activity I would be able to come up with more creative ideas. Overall, I feel that I need to improve my creative skills, I feel that this would further be beneficial to me as I would be able to explore other ideas, think outside of the box and overall have original ideas, hence being able to create different designs and products.
Throughout each session, I would also like to improve on my communicating skills. I would like to be able to communicate my ideas through sketches and / or other visual images more clearly. This would further improve my final product as it would represent the ideas in a more succinct manner, making it easier for others to understand it as well. I feel that I will gain a lot of knowledge about pottery as well as many other skills. Over the years I have learnt to have a growth mindset and this is why I would like to acquire new skills and qualities.
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21.10.19
In this session, I decided to make some animal shapes. I made a pig, a penguin, an elephant, a camel and a donkey. At the beginning of the lesson, I wasn’t quite sure what to make, this is because last lesson we were told that our products would be ready for firing, which would mean that I would be able to paint this lesson. Because of that, I just made some simple decor items for my room, or as gifts to give to my family or friends. Although I didn’t plan on making this, I quite enjoyed the process of making the animal designs. I personally do not think I would make them again, because I would like to continue making the home decoration pieces. I have been wanting to learn how to make a mug, so that is what I think I will be working on next lesson. I am looking forward to the next lesson so that I can expand my creativity skills as well as try to make the mug that I have been wanting to make. I am very optimistic for what is yet to come and for what new ideas I can come up with in the future. Along with making the animal figures, I also did plan ahead for next lesson by making a google doc (LO3). I did this because I want to be able to look back at my ideas and also want to see what I have accomplished, as well as reflect upon these ideas.
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04.11.19
In today’s lesson, I decided to make a mug. I only had time to make one mug this lesson as I was figuring out the best way to make the mug so that it is sturdy. Since last lesson I made four coasters, I am planning on making four mugs to go along with that set. Once the whole set is fired, I will be painting and glazing them, and after the second round of firing they will be ready. A problem that I have run into is that my pieces did not get fired this past week. Due to this, I am unable to paint and this has set me back by quite a bit. But, I have managed to plan ahead of time (LO2) and realised that I could make many products now and then once they all get fired, I would be able to paint and glaze them all. This surprisingly has worked out in my favour as it is a more convenient process.
My experience thus far in pottery has been quite different to the time in grade 8. This time around, we are allowed to make anything that we would like. This gives me space to be more creative and develop on my artistic skills which I wasn’t able to in the past. These few lessons that we have had have taught me many skills, and has overall taught me to think outside the box and be more creative with what I make.
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11.11.19
We got our items fired this lesson. But, few of my pieces broke ( the animals ) which was a bit annoying as I wanted to make a set of animals, but that’s something that I can easily fix. I was planning on making 3 more mugs so that there would be 4 mugs to go along with the 4 coasters that I currently have. So, I started working on my sketches, and planning ahead for the next few lessons (LO2). I am slowly but surely developing on my creativity and art skills. I feel like sketching different ideas helps be visualise the shape, the size as well as the colours I want to use. Not only that but I also took a head start with painting my coasters, mug and trinket bowl so that they will be fired by next week. Next lesson (LO4) , I am planning on making new items out of clay, most likely I will be making a small vase and as I develop my skills (LO2) hopefully by the end of the season I will be able to make a big vase. Over the past few lessons, I have been working with my friends as well as seeking advice from my teacher (Mr.Hickey) on ways that I can improve my designs (LO5). Collaborating with others has really benefited me as they have helped me think outside the box, in which I able able to think of new items to make instead of just simple things.
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13.01.20
This is one of the lasts lessons of pottery for this season. This lesson I decided to make a big bowl to store trinkets or electronics etc. Some of the challenges that I have been facing (LO2) is that my items are not getting fired. This means that I might not be able to fully complete them and hence won’t be able to take them home at the end of this season. But, on the other hand, throughout this season I have acquired many skills and I have also improved on many of them (LO1). Firstly, my creativity skills have improved a lot since the beginning of the course. I am now able to think outside of the box and think of different ideas as well as different designs to paint etc. My pottery skills in general have improved quite a lot as I have been able to make a bigger bowl than I did before, and that for me was an achievement. Initially I didn’t think I would be able to because I was not willing to try different things, but through my commitment (LO4) to this activity as well as collaborating with other students as well as my teacher, I have been able to achieve this. Collaborating with others really made a huge difference as I was able to get inspired from the other ideas around me and then was able to make something unique of my own. Mr.Hickey showed me different ways to sketch out designs and make pots, which initially guided me, personally I thought it was very useful. My commitment was important because if I did not come every lesson it would have slowed down the process and I would not have been able to make the most out of this activity.
