The way I have collaborated in class is, that my table and I worked together,to create a box out of slabs.This process was somewhat difficult because not only did we have to work together, but we had to also work productively. I had four other group member help me with this project. One girl and I worked on connecting the bottom slab with the slabs that were to be the walls. Another group member coiled some clay so we could make a stronger connection between the walls. 2 other group member worked on smoothing the box. Another way that I experienced artists collaborate is that we had to comment on other peoples blog posts. As I was commenting this showed me problems that I could have fixed in writing my post. Also when other students comment on my blog post, it also helped show me how I could have done things differently. By working on projects, or commenting on each others posts, it helps me participate more as an art community member.

I created original art, but no art comes without inspiration. My inspiration for my utilitarian project was the Maria Martinez pots. The way she had a curve like pot helped me in shaping mine. I added some of my ideas like making a larger lip and base. I did not color my pot yet, but i am choosing to color it red, with black geometric designs. I choose to color it red because this pot is for my mother, and she likes the color red.  The black geometric design came from some of the Mimbres pottery. I will also probably color the inside of my pot black to give it a sort of depth. I also created a robot, from using the 2 pinch pots combined together. My inspiration for this is my sister, since she likes robots.. Another idea is that I will shape the body of the Robot into a rectangle.  I created the head, and then I decided I should make it like a coin container. So I started making a hole in the head and body. The arms were difficult for me but as I was looking around,I saw another robot with hands that are an ideal shape for me. Then I created a control panel in the front to give it a more robot like characteristic. My 2 original artworks consisted of my ideas, and other ideas that were a source of inspiration.

Did you know that Mimbres means willows in Spanish?Neither did I. But when I was at home I researched Mimbres Pottery. When I was researching i wanted to find out more about the region they were located in. They are in the southwestern corner of New Mexico.I found out that they live in pueblos along the Mimbres River Valley. The Mimbres have a heavy reliance on on agriculture watered by small irrigation systems. There way of living like this gives their pottery a naturalistic feel/design.  There pots are black on white. This type of pottery helped me work on my pottery,because it gave me ideas about how i should structure, and paint the pots. The one thing that was very surprising for me to learn was that archaeologists don’t know whether or not the Mimbres called themselves Mimbres. Archaeologists just named them that due to their location,”the Mimbres Valley.” The source I used was,”archeologysouthwest.org,” by Michelle Hegmon and Margaret Nelson, Arizona Sate University.

When I was analyzing the Mimbres pottery for Global Awareness(see pictures above), I came to these conclusions about the pottery.  In the bowl I got the wedges rotate about a reserved design area in a center. It has some kind of optical illusion painted on it. The lines are joined together to make  a circle. It seems like the bowl was painted on . Also the pattern is AB AB because it  has a different pattern in each pair of opposed wedges. This type of artwork might inspire me to do something like it for another project, because I like the way how the Mimbres have a plain outside but a beautifully painted outside. The Maria Martinez pots are like the Mimbres pottery because some of the mimbres geometric designs are represented in hers.(see images below)

        MIMBRES

http://www.etsy.com/listing/109194332/mimbres-pottery-bowl-reproduction

  MARIA MARTINEZ

http://www.andreafisherpottery.com/cgi-bin/artistlnk.cgi?Maria_Martinez