Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913

Artist Statement: Melissa Unger

I am a local to Glasgow, Montana and am currently a senior attending the University of Montana working toward a Major is Art Education. I plan on teaching at the Secondary level. With teaching art it is very difficult for me to choose one medium that I focus in because I have to be well rounded in all art mediums. Therefore I enjoy working will various mediums, however, my personal bodies of work currently have revolved around ceramic pieces.

Most of my work is experimentation with creating glazes and slips. I use the throwing wheel to create my simple forms and then coat them with glaze, slip, and sometimes nothing. I have an idea of what I am hoping for as a result when I glaze, put on slips, and where the placement of the piece is in the kiln. For the most part the firings work their magic and it is always a surprise when I open the kiln. The ceramic works you are viewing were all made at the University and fired in electric kilns, wood firings, and a saggar firing. The test tiles you see are all recipes for glazes I made out of books and most of them I simply made up myself! Many hours have gone into these works whether that was stoking the wood kiln, mixing glaze recipes, or working on the wheel I was always experimenting. Within the forms of my work they're really is no content as most of them are vases and cups that I couldn't wait to experiment and fire in the kilns. I have always been inspired by my local surroundings growing up in a rural area. I enjoy the rustic look of things and wanted to create this in my ceramic work. I was able to do so with most of my work that came out of the wood firing. Many pieces still have the ash on them and others have the rustic orange and maroon coloring coming through.

The test tiles developed content due to the fact that they were created for testing my glaze recipes and this was all trial and error. As the key word here is "test" tile, I never had intentions for these to be a work of art. Every tile is unique in its own way and I find beauty in every piece. I made 48 different glazes over the span of one semester and never thought of them as art. Until I had them laid out together to view them I was astonished at what I saw. It no longer felt like trials and errors that I created, but for the first time I saw them as a stunning display of art.

No matter what medium a person uses, they face trials and errors. As I continue to produce and create art I will always be experimenting and trying new forms. I hope my future students will do the same as well when introduced them to new materials. Along with anyone who is aspiring to create art. Experiment and never give up.

 

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