Robert Arneson

Ceramics

Robert Arneson

• DOB-1930

• Nationality- American

• Medium- Ceramics

Robert Arneson• Worked as a cartoonist for a local newspaper in California.

• Arneson loved making art about society and the world around him.

Robert Arneson• He continued drawing during this time

period of his life and stayed away from 3D mediums such as ceramics/clay. This was his least favorite class!!!

Robert Arneson• He attended Oakland in California and

received his MFA. (Master of Fine Arts.) Highest degree you could receive in the art world!

Robert Arneson• Began developing his own artistic style as

a ceramicist

• In the 1960’s Arneson was known as the “Father of Funk.”

Funk-an art movement inspired by popular culture that used an unlikely mixture of materials and techniques, including found objects.

Robert Arneson• During the Funk Movement Arneson

continued to work with clay and other found objects.

Losing His Marbles

• Date: 1965• Materials: Clay, Glaze, marbles and other

found objects• Artist: Robert Arneson

Robert Arneson• In his later years in life he was diagnosed

with cancer. During this time his artwork took a much darker tone. He later lost his battle to cancer in 1992.

Robert Arneson

Robert Arneson

Robert Arneson

Robert Arneson

Fatal Laff

Robert Arneson

General Nuke

Robert Arneson

Robert Arneson

Family and Friends

Robert Arneson

Pollock

Word Wall TermsWhat is clay?

Clay is decomposed fine particles of granite-type rock.

Ways of working with clay• A coil is a rolled

“wormlike” piece of

clay. It can be

stacked on top of

each other to form

objects.

• A slab is a flat piece of clay

• The pinch method is using the fingers and thumbs to pinch the clay into shape.

Preparing the clay for use

• Wedging: the process of folding clay over, working it with the heel of the hand to get a uniform consistency and rid it of air

• Just like kneading bread dough!

• Gets rid of air bubbles so clay does not explode in the kiln

• Slip is liquid or watered down clay. Used for joining 2 pieces or smoothing surfaces.

Joining two pieces of clay

• Score and slip the process of putting cross-hatch marks and slip where two sides come together

• Seals clay together

• Plasticity is workability; flexibility. This is clay ready to be sculpted with.

• Leather-hard most of the moisture is gone

• less plastic

• good for building

• Greenware a completed bone-dry piece of clay

• Has not been fired in the kiln

Tools

• needle tool a pointed tool used to score and cut clay pieces.

• loop tool a tool with a loop at the end used for “scooping” out excess clay

Modeling tool

• A tool used to smooth, mold, and move the clay into its desired form

• kiln an oven used to fire clay

• Our projects will be fired at ~2000 degrees

• Bisqueware clay that has been fired once.

glaze

• a glass-like paint used to cover the surface of a piece of clay. Becomes glossy and shiny in the kiln.

•  used to decorate, strengthen, or waterproof a piece of clay

ADDITION IN CLAYHow would we get these

additions to stay fixed to our clay box?

RELIEF (SUBTRACTION) IN CLAY

What tools could we use to subtract clay from the surface?

• Needle tool

• Loop tool

Template

• A piece of paper or cardboard that shows what size and shape your clay piece will look like

• We cut around it so that clay slabs are all the exact same size