The First Week of the Fall Semester

This was my first week of school (second semester) at Boise State University. My first class in the morning is beginning ceramics. Last Thursday we actually got to start working with the clay. The only clay work I have done before was many years ago at Fullerton Community College at a clay sculpture class that did not include ceramics.

My ceramics teacher demonstrated a certain method we are suppose to use called the coil method. It looked fairly simple...until I tried it myself. It's not as easy as it looks! Fortunately, this is just a practice piece and not something we are going to be graded on. I wanted it to be a small bowl but somehow it ended up to be a large plate and I have no idea how that happened! I hated it so much that I wanted to destroy it and start all over again! But my teacher recommended that I not rework the clay and turn it into something else, because reworked clay doesn't work as well as fresh unused clay. Besides, this is just a practice piece, not an assignment to be graded. I think I know what I did wrong and I am anxious to start another piece that will be more successful. I think I am going to have to spend a lot of extra hours just practicing and developing some skill. It would be nice if I could pull at least a 'B' in this class. At this point, I think an 'A' is too much to shoot for!

My other class in the afternoon is Art Foundations for 3 Dimensional work. We already have homework. Next week we start working on our first project. We are suppose to construct a sculpture or shape out of wire and then place some sort of "skin" around the wire. I thought of a great idea that was based on a kid's project that I saw when I did some volunteer work last spring at the Boise Art Museum Art Camp for Kids. I am going to use clothes hanger wire and pantyhose to make a sculpture. I will probably paint it. I actually started on the basic structure of it this weekend.

This past week I also went to a BSU job fair because I'm still looking for some kind of part-time or temporary job that works around my school schedule. Meanwhile, I am making some money from art sales. I will have a check coming in September from the sales I made in August at the Sawtooth Artisan's Gift Shop. I will also have some money for the commissioned portrait I am working on. I think September will be a good month to do some online selling of some stuff around the house that I don't need or want anymore.