ASAA All-State Art

Azure Peculiar Teapot Set




1st Place – Ceramics

Title of Art Piece: Azure Peculiar Teapot Set
Category: Ceramics – 2021
Student/Artist’s Name: Presley Sarkisian
School: Lathrop High School
Grade: 12th
Artist Statement: Art is a never-ending exploration of the imagination. Through my art, I was inspired by the standard forms of teapots. I aimed to test the limits and see how much the standard forms could change into a unique unnatural arrangement. In my creative process, I first started by throwing a typical teapot. Then I sought to see how much I could develop my skills. I explored diverse forms and was inspired by the shape of a donut of all things. I threw large hollow round cylinders. These cylinders were very technically challenging due to the connecting of the walls to encircle the cylinder. It was also thought-provoking making the bases and tops look like they naturally adhere to the cylinder. Then for the glaze, I kept it intriguing but simple to emphasize the complicated form. The unique form pushed the boundaries of the teapot appearance, and I continue to explore and critique my designs.

Chronic pain was the root of my inspiration to explore many different elements of art. I have a nervous system disorder called Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS). This syndrome caused extreme chronic pain all over my body. I have been battling CRPS, for a little over 2 years now and art was my escape.

While my body is screaming from chronic pain, art became the calm in the middle of my storm. When I can hop on the ceramic wheel and feel the sensation of the clay between my fingers, my pain is forgotten and stress is relieved. Art permits me to forget the pain I feel every day and rejuvenates me. This piece allowed that relief for me and that makes my ceramics pieces even more special.

CRPS has spiked my interest in the arts and I love to explore different media and techniques. Art has really made my life livable and helps me manage my chronic pain daily. Doing art especially ceramics in this stage of my life has kept me joyful and appreciative. I am determined to see the bright side of all things, especially with my syndrome. The bright side to this time of need is my growing love for ceramics. I want to share my art with others and inspiring people through my artwork and my story. To show others that there is a bright side to every dark moment, one just has to find it. Art has helped me extremely and will continue to every day of my life and inspired me to dive deeper and create “peculiar” works.

Artwork Dimensions: Teapot 12 1/2 Inches high X 10 Inches Wide, Teacups both around 3 Inches High X 3 1/2 Inched Wide
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Original Images
http://artalaska.org/wp-content/uploads/AzurePeculiarTeapot1.jpg
http://artalaska.org/wp-content/uploads/AzurePeculiarTeacups2.jpg
http://artalaska.org/wp-content/uploads/AzurePeculiarTeapot3.jpg

Iso-Pot


2nd Place – Ceramics

Title of Art Piece: Iso-Pot
Category: Ceramics – 2021
Student/Artist’s Name: Ella Blanton-Yourkowski
School: Homer High School
Grade: 12th
Artist Statement: This Isopod Teapot was an ode to my childhood. Every year my elementary school would have us go on a beach clean up and every year someone would always find an octopus. I’ve always admired the eight tentacled invertebrates and I hope that I portrayed even an ounce of the movement and mesmerizing look that an octopus illuminates. I wheel threw the form and then hand-built the tentacles and suction cups. The lid is lockable and the teapot is fully functional. I’m not sure how practical this piece is, but I think that it still looks pretty.
Artwork Dimensions: 5.25" x 7.5"
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Original Images
http://artalaska.org/wp-content/uploads/gravity_forms/39-8ac6ca04a8f39bd461fce00dcc46c12a/2021/04/IMG_0800.jpg
http://artalaska.org/wp-content/uploads/gravity_forms/39-8ac6ca04a8f39bd461fce00dcc46c12a/2021/04/IMG_0803.jpg
http://artalaska.org/wp-content/uploads/gravity_forms/39-8ac6ca04a8f39bd461fce00dcc46c12a/2021/04/IMG_0799.jpg

French Butter Dish


3rd Place – Ceramics

Title of Art Piece: French Butter Dish
Category: Ceramics – 2021
Student/Artist’s Name: Lydia Andriesen
School: Haines High School
Grade: 12th
Artist Statement: A conventional butter dish is rectangular in shape, but this dish defies standards with its soft round curves, similar to a French Butter Dish or Butter Crock. The base is made of one piece of clay by pressing out the outer flat rim before pulling the inner rim where about half a stick of butter would sit. The most challenging step in the process was throwing and trimming an inverted small bowl for the lid, using the aid of calipers to achieve the correct diameter that encompassed the base. The curved lid is topped with a French twist for a handle.
Artwork Dimensions: 5 inches in diameter, 4 inches tall
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Original Images
http://artalaska.org/wp-content/uploads/gravity_forms/39-8ac6ca04a8f39bd461fce00dcc46c12a/2021/04/French-Butter-Dish1.JPG
http://artalaska.org/wp-content/uploads/gravity_forms/39-8ac6ca04a8f39bd461fce00dcc46c12a/2021/04/French-Butter-Dish2.JPG
http://artalaska.org/wp-content/uploads/gravity_forms/39-8ac6ca04a8f39bd461fce00dcc46c12a/2021/04/French-Butter-Dish3.JPG

Azure Peculiar Flower Vase



Honorable Mention – Ceramics

Title of Art Piece: Azure Peculiar Flower Vase
Category: Ceramics – 2021
Student/Artist’s Name: Presley Sarkisian
School: Lathrop High School
Grade: 12th
Artist Statement: Art is a never-ending exploration of the imagination. Through my art, I was inspired by the standard forms of vases. I aimed to test the limits and see how much the standard forms could change into a unique unnatural arrangement. In my creative process, I first started by throwing a typical vase. Then I sought to see how much I could develop my skills. I explored diverse forms of vases, and I was inspired by the shape of a donut of all things. I threw large and small hollow round cylinders. These cylinders were very technically challenging due to the connecting of the walls to encircle the cylinder. It was also thought-provoking making the bases and tops look like they naturally adhere to the cylinders. Then for the glazes, I kept them intriguing but simply to emphasize the complicated form. This unique form pushed the boundaries of the vase’s appearance, and I continue to explore and critique my designs.

Chronic pain was the root of my inspiration to explore many different elements of art. I have a nervous system disorder called Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS). This syndrome caused extreme chronic pain all over my body. I have been battling CRPS, for a little over 2 years now and art was my escape.

While my body is screaming from chronic pain, art became the calm in the middle of my storm. When I can hop on the ceramic wheel and feel the sensation of the clay between my fingers, my pain is forgotten and stress is relieved. Art permits me to forget the pain I feel every day and rejuvenates me. This piece allowed that relief for me and that makes my ceramics pieces even more special.

CRPS has spiked my interest in the arts and I love to explore different media and techniques. Art has really made my life livable and helps me manage my chronic pain daily. Doing art especially ceramics in this stage of my life has kept me joyful and appreciative. I am determined to see the bright side of all things, especially with my syndrome. The bright side to this time of need is my growing love for ceramics. I want to share my art with others and inspiring people through my artwork and my story. To show others that there is a bright side to every dark moment, one just has to find it. Art has helped me extremely and will continue to every day of my life and inspired me to dive deeper and create “peculiar” works.

Artwork Dimensions: 8 1/2 Inches High X 7 1/2 Inches Wide
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Original Images
http://artalaska.org/wp-content/uploads/AzurePeculiarFlowerVase1.jpeg
http://artalaska.org/wp-content/uploads/AzurePeculiarFlowerVase2.jpg
http://artalaska.org/wp-content/uploads/AzurePeculiarFlowerVase3.jpeg

Slab Pitcher

Title of Art Piece: Slab Pitcher
Category: Ceramics – 2021
Student/Artist’s Name: Sierra Clark
School: Haines High School
Grade: 12th
Artist Statement: With it being my first year working with ceramics, this pitcher was both new and exciting as well as a learning curve. Before Spring break, we were assigned to build a slab formation vase, and we were given the freedom to choose what kind of art piece we wanted to build and which type of clay we wished to use. I chose to work with Oregon White clay and to build a triangular pitcher. Since I was making it from slabs and not throwing the clay, a four-sided pitcher would have been much easier to construct and slightly less awkward to handle. But the idea of it only having three sides had too much of an imperfect, flowing attraction to resist. So I rolled out some clay and got to work with messy hands.

Personally, the most challenging part was picking out which color of glazes to use. The first thing I always notice on a piece of pottery is the way the colors flow together. I simply love colors, which makes it difficult for me to choose. Eventually, I decided on the fade from a light blue to a dark purple. Some of the glazes moved while others weren’t supposed to, so it took layering both the moving and non-moving glazes together, two runs through the glaze kiln to accomplish the idea I hoped to achieve.

Artwork Dimensions: 10 inches high x 7 inches wide
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Original Images
http://artalaska.org/wp-content/uploads/gravity_forms/39-8ac6ca04a8f39bd461fce00dcc46c12a/2021/04/slab-pitcher-1.JPG
http://artalaska.org/wp-content/uploads/gravity_forms/39-8ac6ca04a8f39bd461fce00dcc46c12a/2021/04/slab-pitcher-2.JPG
http://artalaska.org/wp-content/uploads/gravity_forms/39-8ac6ca04a8f39bd461fce00dcc46c12a/2021/04/slab-pitcher-3.JPG

Chiseled Stone Tea Set

Title of Art Piece: Chiseled Stone Tea Set
Category: Ceramics – 2021
Student/Artist’s Name: Seth McClurg
School: Haines High School
Grade: 10th
Artist Statement: This set, Chiseled Stone, is meant to portray – you guessed it – chiseled stone. The choice to leave the many facets un-glazed is meant to draw attention to the texture and form of the set, rather than vibrant colors or beautiful illustrations. The Chiseled Stone set is utilitarian, not fragile or dainty; it’s meant to be used. The form and size of the cups make them comfortable to hold for sipping on a delicious beverage and the teapot’s cylindrical shape makes brewing and cleaning easy.

I had a design plan in mind before throwing the set and knew that I wanted to try an interesting trimming technique in order to get the chiseled, faceted aesthetic. To start, I threw each of the pieces a little thicker than necessary to account for the trimming I would do later. Once leather-hard, I took a looped ribbon tool and carved chunks out of the outside relatively deeply. I went in all different directions while carving, using the wide and narrow end of the tool to get different sized facets. I left a little bit of the top edge uncarved to leave a comfortable sipping rim and to enhance with a bit of Allspice glaze. After trimming the texture, I trimmed the feet very basically and simplistically. There are no handles on the cups to keep them simple and to save on the workload (as there are five separate cups), and the handle on the teapot is an unornamented slab cut-out, to keep with the simple aesthetic. Inside each piece is a slightly glossy, white, Vanilla Spice glaze. The outer rims (and handle/spout) are all wrapped in the tan Allspice glaze.

After creating this set, I’m satisfied with the result. The chiseled stone texturing came out exactly as I imagined, and the set includes a teapot and more than two similar cups which I am pretty happy about – I finally achieved my goal of making a functional (and fashionable) tea set and am proud of the accomplishment.

Artwork Dimensions: Teapot height: 6 10/16" Teapot width: 8 ½" Teapot depth: 4 7/16" Cup height: 3 ¼" Cup width: 3" Cup depth: 2 15/16"
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Original Images
http://artalaska.org/wp-content/uploads/gravity_forms/39-8ac6ca04a8f39bd461fce00dcc46c12a/2021/04/chiseled-stone-1.JPG
http://artalaska.org/wp-content/uploads/gravity_forms/39-8ac6ca04a8f39bd461fce00dcc46c12a/2021/04/chiseled-stone-2.JPG
http://artalaska.org/wp-content/uploads/gravity_forms/39-8ac6ca04a8f39bd461fce00dcc46c12a/2021/04/chiseled-stone-3.JPG

Mariners’ Mugs

Title of Art Piece: Mariners’ Mugs
Category: Ceramics – 2021
Student/Artist’s Name: Lydia Andriesen
School: Haines High School
Grade: 12th
Artist Statement: This set of mugs was inspired by the classic seaboat captain shape with a narrow lip to keep a warm drink from splashing around with the waves. I wanted design to have an insulating effect with the wide base holding the beverage and narrow necks keeping heat from escaping. Achieving this shape proved rather difficult, but after many attempts, my collaring technique on the wheel improved until I was able to replicate the ideal form for the pair. The Oregon Red clay, still visible on the bottom, complements the Opal Sky and Floating Blue glaze combination as the Opal Sky’s translucency allows the deep red clay to be seen on the lip.
Artwork Dimensions: 5 ½ inches wide, 4 ¼ inches tall
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Original Images
http://artalaska.org/wp-content/uploads/gravity_forms/39-8ac6ca04a8f39bd461fce00dcc46c12a/2021/04/Mariners-Mugs1.JPG
http://artalaska.org/wp-content/uploads/gravity_forms/39-8ac6ca04a8f39bd461fce00dcc46c12a/2021/04/Mariners-Mugs2.JPG
http://artalaska.org/wp-content/uploads/gravity_forms/39-8ac6ca04a8f39bd461fce00dcc46c12a/2021/04/Mariners-Mugs3.JPG

Trout Tail Mugs

Title of Art Piece: Trout Tail Mugs
Category: Ceramics – 2021
Student/Artist’s Name: Sanona Sundberg
School: Haines High School
Grade: 11th
Artist Statement: These two mugs I created as a pair. They use the same glaze colors: Blue Hares Fur and a semi-matte white. The title of the set is Trout Tails. I created these pieces with two different types of clay. Oregon White and and Oregon Red Clay. This year, I have been focusing on pulling my own handles and creating clean, functional pottery.
Artwork Dimensions: 3.75 inches high x 4 inches wide (each mug)
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Original Images
http://artalaska.org/wp-content/uploads/gravity_forms/39-8ac6ca04a8f39bd461fce00dcc46c12a/2021/04/Trout-Tail-Mugs-1.JPG
http://artalaska.org/wp-content/uploads/gravity_forms/39-8ac6ca04a8f39bd461fce00dcc46c12a/2021/04/Trout-Tail-Mugs-2.JPG
http://artalaska.org/wp-content/uploads/gravity_forms/39-8ac6ca04a8f39bd461fce00dcc46c12a/2021/04/Trout-Tail-Mugs3.JPG

Never Ending Vase

Title of Art Piece: Never Ending Vase
Category: Ceramics – 2021
Student/Artist’s Name: Tanner Reid
School: Homer High School
Grade: 12th
Artist Statement: My piece was designed to have a very fluid form, that the eyes can easily follow. The flow has few interruptions, and I personally believe it is a very unique design. I have worked with a lot of doughnut shaped designs in the past, and wanted to extrapolate on those ideas. The base shape of the doughnut is thrown by simply creating a groove in a ring of clay, throwing an inner and outer wall upward, and once again conjoining them at the top. Although the idea for this exact vase design just came from wanting to create more complex forms using doughnuts, the original inspiration for doughnuts came from a vase in that design left sitting in the studio that I marveled over. I was overall pleased that my creation even survived, as I never really made any prototypes, but it did have some shortcomings. It leaned slightly in the kiln as it probably wasn’t balanced perfectly, and the joints were not as smooth as I wanted them to be. I learned a lot of possibilities from this piece, and even thought of more complex versions that I never had the will to attempt, but was overall fun to learn with and make nonetheless.
Artwork Dimensions: 11.25" x 5"
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Original Images
http://artalaska.org/wp-content/uploads/gravity_forms/39-8ac6ca04a8f39bd461fce00dcc46c12a/2021/04/IMG_0810.jpg
http://artalaska.org/wp-content/uploads/gravity_forms/39-8ac6ca04a8f39bd461fce00dcc46c12a/2021/04/IMG_0812-1.jpg