Eyes - Expression,  Reflection, and Surrealism

Because of the masks we have all been wearing throughout the pandemic, we have had to rely more on recognizing and reading each other’s expressions by focusing on our eyes.  Louise Bourgeois’ giant Eyes sculpture, M.C, Escher’s Eye (with a skull reflected in the pupil) and Magritte’s The False Mirror (in which the iris is replaced with sky) were jumping off points for discussing symbolism and Surrealism. Students were encouraged to work from photographs they took of their own eyes expressing a specific emotion and to incorporate surreal elements into their drawings to reflect or reveal something about themselves or the world around them.

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Optical Illusions
An optical illusion is meant to “fool the eye.” The 5 terms used to create op art are rhythm, contrast, change in scale, hard edged line and pattern. The students’ objective of this drawing was to fill the entire space of each page, blurring the distinction between foreground and background using these terms

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Relief and Reefs

Students worked with the concept of relief sculpture -- in which the surface of the clay is either built up or incised (carved into) to create varying depths.  (Coins, while not ceramic, are a largely overlooked example of relief sculptures.) Coral reef anemone, fish and other sea creatures are the inspiration behind the work of three contemporary ceramic artists whose sculptures - all of which are rich with relief surface designs-  we explored. The students incorporated relief elements using simple tools like pencils and toothpicks into their own sculptures.

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