Lucy Flagell Functional Pottery

Pottery is the act of creating functional vessels to be enjoyed by an individual while performing everyday rituals, such as having morning tea or coffee or eating dinner with friends and family. Ceramicists focus on creating either functional or sculptural pottery. Sculptural pottery is considered to be a work of art which doesn’t require a specific function. Functional pottery has a purpose. My interests lean more towards functional pottery. I enjoy creating something on the potter’s wheel that someone will take pleasure in using on a daily basis. For my honors assignment, I chose to perform an artist study of Lucy Flagella’s work because I have admired her pottery for its simplicity and painterly decoration.
Lucy Flagella is a Massachusetts
However, before beginning on the potter’s wheel the clay must be prepared. In order to prepare the clay to be workable on the potters wheel the clay must be wedged. Wedging is the process of removing the air from the clay and making the clay more pliable. Air trapped in the clay is an enemy of the potter. Without a doubt if air is trapped within the clay body the process of creating a piece is undeniably more tedious. Unquestionably if the clay is not wedged and not wedged properly before working on the wheel the difficult process of centering is all together more difficult. In order to wedge properly the clay must be folded in on itself in a manner to remove the trapped air bubbles. There are two process of wedging both require different hand motions to remove the air bubbles. First is the spiral method which is done by folding the clay in on itself applying light pressure with one hand to move the clay in a circular motion which gives the clay a sea shell appearance. The second method is the rams head. With the rams head method the clay is cupped by both the right and left hands and the clay is folded in on itself to create the shape of a rams head. Once the clay is wedged properly work on the wheel can commence. Centering the clay requires applying equal pressure to the side and top of the clay with the right and left hand while the wheel rotates counterclockwise. The pressure from the left and right hand push the clay into a disk shape in the center of the wheel. The clay is centered when it doesn’t have any wobbles. At this point a well is made in the center of the clay and pulled open to create a flat bottom. The most important shape to learn on the potter’s wheel is the cylinder. Knowing how to create a cylinder is the fundamental shape to create the majority of