Presenting:

Starry Vase

This piece was created in 2022 in my Ceramics I class. It was inspired by Vincent Van Gogh's famous Starry Night. It won an honorable mention in the 2023 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, as well as Best in Show in the University of Dayton's Honors Art Show.

This pot is a coil pot. It was created by taking many coils of clay and forming rings. Different lengths of rings are then stacked on top of each other, creating the shape of the pot. The rings are connected via slip and scoring, and then smoothed to form an even surface.

To create the impression of the Starry Night, I used a tool to carve away small imprints to show the pattern of the sky and town. I only carved away small pieces of the surface to imitate an impressionist style. The town was carved with a needle tool, to contrast with the thick lines of the sky.

The glaze was airbrushed on, with yellow glaze in the stars and moon covered with wax to prevent the blue from covering it. The piece was glaze fired twice, as the blue needed to be reinforced with a second coat.

Elizabeth Opalek

Starry Vase

This pot is a coil pot. It was created by taking many coils of clay and forming rings. Different lengths of rings are then stacked on top of each other, creating the shape of the pot. The rings are connected via slip and scoring, and then smoothed to form an even surface.

To create the impression of the Starry Night, I used a tool to carve away small imprints to show the pattern of the sky and town. I only carved away small pieces of the surface to imitate an impressionist style. The town was carved with a needle tool, to contrast with the thick lines of the sky.

The glaze was airbrushed on, with yellow glaze in the stars and moon covered with wax to prevent the blue from covering it. The piece was glaze fired twice, as the blue needed to be reinforced with a second coat.

Elizabeth Opalek