2021 is Year of the Ox (Chinese New Year). By the way, 2020 was the year of the rat, in case you were wondering. And boy did it turn out to be an ugly rat of a year, didn’t it?!
The Ox symbolizes hard work, dedication, drive, & perseverance. This year, according to a quick Google dive, the Ox is expected to bring bountiful rewards to those who have worked tirelessly hard. Hallelujah! Raise your hand if you are ready to receive them!
To celebrate the Chinese New Year of the Ox, our students made these beautiful ceramic oxen in our pottery classes in Charlotte, and in our Mixed Media classes in Charlotte they drew and painted these beautiful oxen inspired by artist and designer, Andrew Holder. You can check out their paintings here!
In this post, we’re going to take a closer look at these beautiful ceramic oxen created by our pottery students!
How We Did It
These started as a lot of our 3D ceramic projects do, with two oval shaped pinch pots, attached at the seam so the body is hollow. From there, we examine the anatomy of a bull and shape of their facial features.
We often have our pottery students sketch their designs or plans on paper first. In this case, the inspiration was a “celebratory ox” – one that was dressed up for a parade, with fancy headdress, decorative blanket, and ornate accessories! The kids really embraced that idea and ran with it!
What about glazing?
We did these in 2 hour workshop, so we didn’t have time to bisque fire them before glazing. In these instances, we have kids glaze them with only accent colors vs. full color, and then let them dry extra well before firing. It’s not the most orthodox process for the pottery purists out there, but with kids and pottery we do this once fired process often and it works well for us!
This one is carrying a baby Yoda on its back!
