NICOLA MACDONALD - UNDER THE SEA - CERAMICS

NICOLA MACDONALD 

UNDER THE SEA

CERAMICS

1. Kwa-Zulu Natal Society of Art

2. Ceramics Association of Southern Africa KZN Reigion. Interpreting Ceramics.

3. Katuni Naidoo, Under the Sea, Expressive, R1335

4. Coil Building - A hand-building technique employed to create pots.  Clay plastic "snakes" are formed, pushed and pinched to combine them into a pot. Sometimes the artist leaves the coil appearance to achieve a particular affect.  Ceramics created with coil building depend largely on the artist's hand to create the object's form vs. using a potters wheel or mold.  The coils themselves may be defined or smooth based upon the texture of the object or the intent of the artist.  The coil building was used for the coral in the middle and the base of the piece.

5. The Under the Sea piece is glazed. It is 3 dimensional, it has a natural shape with curvy lines. It depicts carol under the sea. 

6. This piece is very detailed and it has a peaceful feel to it. It reminds of the beach and the sea and I love being in the water, so that's why I chose this piece of artwork. I love the pastel colors and the small details on the coral.

7. Texture - the piece has a smooth feel when you touch it because it has been glazed, some of the carol has a bumpy texture to it giving it more of a realistic feel to it.

Color - The piece has light pastel colors which gives it a peaceful feel, like a peaceful ocean.

Line - there are curvy free lines, making it look natural like an ocean, underwater

8. No, they don't have a website.

9.  yes, I would say so as it has a white background and stand so the piece stands out

10. It is a display piece

KZNSA Gallery - Bianca O'Byrne

Bianca O'Byrne 10 E

Ceramics Associations of Southern Africa KZNRegion

1. Kwa-Zulu Natal Society of Arts

2. Interpreting Ceramics, Ceramics Associations of Southern Africa KZNRegion

3. Starry Stallion

Carol Hayward Fell

Stoneware and porcelain

Sculpture

R5 000

4. Other, sculpting

5. White horse with engravings carved into it making it bumpy.

6. I liked the way she engraved the different shapes and all 4 horses making them unique and elegant. The horses caught my eye as it was a simple piece of art amongst a lot of over the top pieces of work.

7. Texture, can give a sense of illusionistic space which gave the sculpture a bumpy feeling as though it were like patting a horse. Texture is creates shadows which makes the horse look more alive.

8. No

9. The art piece wasn't eye catching at first but caught my attention when the other horse sculptures were placed around the room.

10. Purely for display

ceramic exhibition blog questions - nicola van Loggerenberg

Ceramic exhibition blog questions

1) Kwazulu-Natal Society of Art.

2) KZN ceramics association.

3) Title - hair with blue accents

    Name of artist - Lorrine de Richelieu

    Material - hand-molded clay structure

    Size - 25cm in height

    Price - not for sale

4) This piece is a decorative, sculpture piece, and was most probably hand-molded as there are no recurring patterns or shapes and has a completely organic body. The artist would have used different types of stick tools and knives to help with the accents in the piece for example the claws and the ears.

5) A hare is depicted in this piece. The hind claws of the sculpture have been exaggerated a bit to make them look bigger in proportion to the head which is smaller. The colour used is a pale, washed blue colour shared with off whites, which give this peice a rustic feeling as it gives it an old, worn look. The work has also been glazed to give it a finishing shine.

6) I find this piece very earthy and very warm because, the creature depicted is a very lively creature and often used in things like nursery rhymes and stories, which gives  the art matter a very childish aura. I enjoyed looking at this beautiful piece.

7) Shape -the overall body of an art piece. The shape in the hare is a very whimsical one has the hind legs are not really in proportion to the rest of the piece.

Colour - the pallet used on the piece. The colors used are of a blue to grey pallet, and also includes some off whites and some red-browns. Even though the majority of this piece is paint in cool colors the overall effect is very warm.

Texture -the feeling of the surface of the artwork. The piece was glazed therefore it has a smooth shiny texture which gives the finished product a refined,  antique look. 

8) Lorrine de Richelieu does not own any existing websites, however she is often mentioned in reviews about local ceramic competitions and as far as I know is "up and coming". Her work is very admired in these reviews.

9) no I feel this piece was lost amongst the others it was placed with, not because they outshone it, only because in was smaller in comparison. The stand it was held on was also not very high.

10) This piece is purely for display.

Kelly Love KZNSA Gallery W/S

1)What does the initials KZNSA stand for? 

Kwa-Zulu Natal Society of Art

2)What is the name of the group that makes up the whole ceramic exhibition and the title of the show?

Interpreting ceramics. Ceramics Association of Southern Africa KZN Region 

Take a picture of your chosen item. 

3)Document information about the item; title, name of artist, material, size, price etc. 

Horse with detailed "zentangle" on its skin, Artist- Carol Hayward Fell, material- stoneware and porcelain, Price- R5000

4)What methods of making did the artist use, Coil building, Slab building, throwing on a  wheel or other? Describe this method. If you choose other describe the method you

think they have used.

I think the artist moulded the horse out and left it to dry then used a icing gun (for ceramics) to put the fine details on the horse.

5)Describe the piece? It’s form, shape, does it depict anything or is it abstract? Is it  textured, is it glazed? etc.

The shape shows it's an horse, so does it's form. It is not abstract.

6)What are your feelings about the piece and what caused you to select it for study? Explain.

I chose this peice because I could see the hard effort that was put into it. It's not hard on the eye, the smooth white colour of the porcelain lets the bright white pattern stand out.

7)Choose 3 elements (Line, shape etc.); describe the element and how it has been used in the piece and explain its function.

Line- the line is curved creating a sense of size 

Shape- the shapes are all different but clearly show it  is a horse

Texture- the 3D pattern on the horse creates a texture. When touched it's obviously not smooth but still links it to the texture of a horse, lumpy and rough.

8)Is the artist well established? Do they have a website? Record the URL 

The artist is not well established. She has a Facebook account but it only shows her 

paintings not this specific item.

9)Is the way the piece displayed enhance the viewing of the piece? Explain. Can you use the piece as a utensil or is it purely for display? Yes, you can easily walk around the object viewing all angles and sides of the horse. The object is purely for display.

KZNSA Gallery Visit- Swetha Maharaj

The KZNSA gallery, otherwise known as the Kwa-Zulu Natal Society Of Art Gallery were holding a ceramics exhibition- Interpreting Ceramics by the Ceramics Association of Southern Africa KZNRegion.

The ceramics piece that I chose to analyse:




This piece is 109 from Astrid Dahl's White Matter Series, it is a rather large piece made from Earthenware that is selling for the price of R14 170.00.
From the looks of it, it seems that Astrid Dahl used the method of slab building to create this piece, taking slabs of white clay and sanding and carving the shape into them and in some way 'sticking' them together.


This piece is very unique and abstract, with it's unusual shape and glazed finish it doesn't depict anything exactly.
I very much like abstract art, at first it evoked a slight feeling of confusion in me as I was tried figuring out what exactly it was and then only did I realise that the beauty of the piece was only enhanced by the fact it wasn't anything specific. This is why I chose to do my analysis on the piece.
Line- the line in this piece is very curvy and flowly; this makes the piece seem more girly and expressive
Colour- the plain white of the piece enhances the actual piece itself as it doesn't make you concentrate on the colour but quickly grabs your attention when you see it and brings your attention to the piece itself and the shape of it.
Texture- the sculpture was glazed and therefore has a smooth texture, enhancing the piece and making the lines in the piece appear softer.
This piece was displayed alone with nothing very close to it, this enhances the size of the piece and allows us to look at the detail inside and experience it to the fullest.

This piece, much like the rest of Astrid Dahl's pieces are purely for display and cannot be used as a utensil.
More of Astrid Dahl's work can be viewed on her website http://www.astriddahl.co.za

Swetha Maharaj

Trip to KZNSA by Lamis Hassim

Lamis Hassim : Visit to KZN Ceramic Exhibition 

1.  Kwazulu- Natal Society of Art

2.  The name of the group is the Ceramics Association of Southern Africa KZN Region and the title is Interpreting Ceramics.

3. More about the piece - 

Title: Pinched Teapot

Name of Artist: Mary Slack

Material: Stoneware

Price: R300

Size: More or less 15x 30 cm

4.  Coil Building involves the artist creating 'snake like' coils by shaping the medium into long threads and rolling them out. These coils are pushed and moulded to build up the medium and then joining them to form the piece.

5. The piece depicts a white teapot and is slightly more textured in some parts whereas the rest of the piece is smooth and glazed. The extra textured pieces (depicted in blue) look almost net like. This seems to give the piece a more clean and unique look.

6. The reason I chose this piece was that it was seemingly ordinary. From a far it looks as if it is any old teapot but upon inspection you can clearly see the delicate and fine detail in the aqua part of the teapot. The simplistic touch of blue adds so much more to the piece and makes it clean yet extremely pretty and delicate.

7. The elements of art which I have chosen are texture, shape and line. The smooth lines help emphasize the rhythm and movement . The repetitive smooth finish and lines that are created in the teapot helps the piece from easily as curved lines are generally more expressive and even feminine. The open geometric shape creates a sense of harmony and balance in the piece and helps all the elements go well together by making them seemingly flow even though the piece is asymmetrical . The texture in the piece which is smooth and glazed all over except in the blue areas help create a focal point. The focal point being that of the textured area. The netted texture helps draw our eye to the one different thing on the piece.

8. The artist, Mary Slacks seems to be very well established as upon investigation she is 2012 Art Champion Award winner however I could not find a website.

9. The piece is placed on a clear, elevated platform or pedestal which certainly does attract attention to it however it is placed near the wall and due to the fact that it is mostly white in colour, it is easy to miss . The display has therefore not necessarily enhanced the viewing.

10. The piece is fully functional as recorded in the image so is usable as a utensil.

Roman Art by Lara

The Romans made more naturalistic artworks than any previous group of people. The following artwork by a Pompeian painter illustrates this naturalism. 

They  often used art as propaganda, to glorify their empire and make them look superior and create fear in their enemies. 

The following is a Statue showing Augustus of Primaporta.

Not only did the Romans make advancements in statues they also improved architecture were the first people to develop the arch and dome. They discovered that arched objects were able to hold up more weight than a post and lintel system. The dome was later used in many architectural buildings and we use it in many buildings today, thanks to the discovery of the Romans. 

The development of the arch led to the building of bridges and aqueducts. 

Click here

to learn more about arch construction. 

Click here

to learn more about dome construction.