Clay

Select one clay object from the Ackland Museum’s collection (it must be on display in the galleries) and write an artifact analysis reflection. Can you tell how it was made based on your observations? What kinds of qualities or features did the maker favor, and how did they manipulate their material to achieve this result? Use the Hooper reading as your model. Be sure to include an image of the object as your post’s featured image. You might also want to integrate other images into your post such as detail photos, videos, etc. if relevant.

Eyes of a (Porcelain) Hawk

Posted 6 years ago

Hawk on Rockwork, Japanese, 19th century, Hirado porcelain with underglaze cobalt blue decoration, gift of Mrs. Joseph Palmer Knapp, by exchange, 2016.34.   Within the Ackland Art Museum’s Colors Across Asia exhibit, ceramic works sit staged throughout a variety of … Read more

Hiroshi’s “Ai-Iro Shino” – An Indigo Fruit

Posted 6 years ago

Unassuming at first glance, and tucked away towards the far end of the exhibition path, Sakai Hiroshi’s “Ai-Iro Shino” in fact commands center stage. It’s a large sphere, about a foot and a half in width and height, with concentric … Read more

It’s Obviously a Vase

Posted 6 years ago

This piece is called Sichuan Lifan Amphora and is apart of the Color across Asia display. It is from the Chinese, Eastern Han dynasty from 25 CE- 22- CE and is black earthenware with incised and burnished decor and bronze … Read more

Porcelain: How Creative Can You Get?

Posted 6 years ago

In the Colors of Asia exhibit within the Ackland Art Museum, there lies a red vase created by Canadian artist Thomas Bezanson. The vase, titled so, is a porcelain piece with a red “sang de boeuf” glaze, which the French … Read more

Traditional Ceramics Get a Futuristic Visitor Just Touching Down

Posted 6 years ago

In a gallery filled with ornate, heavy vases and finely painted porcelain, Nagae Shigekazu’s (Japanese, b. 1953) “Object” (c. 1992) was especially eye catching (fig. 1). Compared to the solid delicacy and traditional nature of most of the works in … Read more

Much Ado about Horse Clay-Things

Posted 6 years ago

It stands upright—unsupported by posts or other objects and yet, by modest estimates, is over one thousand years old. The proud Horse with Saddle earthenware sculpture elegantly balances itself atop its four hooves, supported by its tall and sender limbs. … Read more

Where is the object?

Posted 6 years ago

Found in the Colors Across Asia gallery is an abundance of ceramic works, ranging in culture, region, and time period. Object, by Nagae Shigekazu in 1992, is an overall rectangular piece, with folds and curves found throughout that make it appear as … Read more

Each Season Unlike the Last: Isys Hennigar’s Purple Pals

Posted 6 years ago

(Disclaimer: First of all, I definitely blanked and did not go to the Ackland when I intended to on Sunday. And while I could’ve tried to fudge an analysis using their archives online, that seemed so lame and not in … Read more

Clodion Clay Complex: Say That 3 Times Fast

Posted 6 years ago

(Figure 1) In the Ackland’s newest exhibit, Becoming A Woman In The Age of Enlightenment: French Art, all pieces of artwork focuse on the depictions of women.  Claude-Michael’s, known as Clodion, terracotta statue Minerva opened the exhibit. Minerva depicts the ancient … Read more

The Unassuming Box, Color Across Asia 87: Covered Box

Posted 6 years ago

The object I chose to examine isn’t the most eye-catching. It isn’t brightly colored or gilded in gold, and it doesn’t look particularly delicate or specifically difficult to construct. I knew I wanted to pick something out of the Color … Read more