Blog Post 5 – Agueda Zabisky
My journey with the Creative Pinellas project has been both challenging and valuable. I’m more organized than I ever thought possible (nothing close to perfect …. far from it!) and I am much more aware now than ever before of what needs to be done.
There were many times when I created some art and thought about the technical details of the assembly only at the end. Yes, unbelievable! But it’s by making mistakes that we learn and we only make mistakes when we do something.
Nowadays, when I have an initial idea for a new sculpture, the first thing I do is experiment. During the exploration phase, many times my preliminary thoughts change and I end up not using the trials. But they are very important in the process, and I will definitely use them in another opportunity.
Doing color tests, for example, is very important in ceramics. After firing, many surprises can arise, and they are not always good or what you expect. The same glaze gives different results depending on the clay used and the firing temperature.
Another very important thing when we think about fittings or measurements is clay shrinkage. Forgetting this detail is a sure step towards an unrecoverable error.
Of course, not all tests can guarantee the success of ceramic pieces, but studying possibilities to try to be more assertive is like having an Ace up your sleeve. Even if the sculpture changes during the process (which is inevitable) and some technical impediment appears, it will be easier and faster to make the necessary adjustments.
