Written by Savannah Keough |
As a child I loved being outside with my siblings, being in nature, and using art as an outlet to let my creativity run wild and that has stuck until this day. Throughout high school, I discovered that my love for art expanded when I took ceramics and that is where my true passion is. My favorite pieces I’ve created in all my years of taking ceramics are from a portfolio where I combined my love for the outdoors and ceramics, creating pieces that examined how colors and landscapes could evoke different emotions and memories from viewers, all on pieces I created on the wheel. My goal for these pieces were to showcase the beauty of different landscapes and allow viewers to reminisce on all of their greeted memories that occurred outdoors all on a vessel that brings me peace and happiness when created.
The first piece, on the left, was inspired by the Chincoteague grasslands. When I was young my family and I would go on speedboat tours around the grasslands of Chincoteague Island. We would stop to lick the salty strands and hunt for clams in the thick mud. This piece uses darker greens and blues in order to convey the original colors of the landscape and evoke a sense of calmness even in dark times. The second piece on the right was inspired by a winter landscape during an early morning sunrise. While I have never had the opportunity to go hiking or camping during the winter, the piece represents something I’ve wanted and hope to do sometime in the future. The piece uses a lot of golden yellow and muted reds and blues to evoke a sense of happiness, tranquility, and peace.
The first piece on the left, in the bottom left corner, was inspired by crashing ocean waves. I have a lot of fond memories with my family from numerous beach trips when I was a child; my favorite thing to do was go boogie boarding for hours. With this mug, I was inspired by viewing the beach on a windy and cloudy day when temperature is perfect for sitting in the sand and enjoying the sound of the waves rather than the action of being in the water. In order to convey this feeling I used greys and very very dull blue in order to create that image of a cloudy or almost rainy day, evoking a sense of serenity. The second piece, in the bottom middle and top left, was inspired by the red rocks in Las Vegas, Nevada at sunset. While I’ve only been once, climbing the red rocks and viewing the sunset with my siblings and parents is still one of my favorite memories. My main goal with this piece was to showcase the colors of the sunset and beauty of the desert park by creating mountains, cacti, rocks, and plateaus and using a lot of deep pinks and purples to showcase the sunset and allow viewers to imagine their late night summer memories. Finally, the third piece on the bottom right and top right was inspired by the mountains in the early morning. While I’ve had few opportunities to view the mountains in the early morning, some of my favorite memories include driving in the early morning when it’s brisk out, slightly damp, and light blue out. My goal was to evoke the feeling of peaceful early mornings where there is no stress and all there is to think about is the day to come and to do so I used a gradient of values for the mountains for contrast and cream or white color for the sky to create that early morning.