Senior Cassie Perry is said to always show outstanding talent in the arts, but her last pottery piece has everyone’s heads turning. Perry recently created a dinosaur head that took over two weeks to sculpt and glaze, and it weighs well over 10 pounds.
Blake Marquardt, her Studio Art teacher, helped her every step of the way.
“She loves the bigger pieces and challenging herself, but it’s something I knew she could do,” Marquardt said.
The first step of the process was molding the head which came with many challenges that Cassie was able to overcome.
“The most difficult task was creating a texture on the outside. Eventually, I did this by using slip (watered down clay that is almost of a mud consistency) and pushing it through a burlap texture,” Perry said.
Cassie’s project was especially unique because its structure was withheld by strands of old newspaper. Marquardt assisted Cassie through the new process.
“She created the dinosaur almost like in a newsprint, so she folded up a newspaper in the inside and then put slabs of clay around it,” Marquardt said.
After she was finished sculpting her pot, it was sent through a kiln, which is a type of oven that burns at 1,800 to 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit. After the sculpture had hardened, the riskiest step was to come.
“In the very end, we actually had to cut the head in half so we could remove the newspaper, so I think Cassie was very nervous because it was kind of like a brain surgery where we could have really wrong or really well at that point,” Marquardt said.
The final step of the process was glazing the piece, meaning coating the dinosaur with a substance that fused to it through firing. This is done to color, decorate, and waterproof pottery pieces.
“This was tough because my brush kept getting stuck in the teeth,” Perry said.
She powered through these final steps and was very proud of her end result. Despite her obvious natural talent, Marquardt attributes much of her success to her dedication and hard work.
“Even being a senior, I still see her in my T3 most days spending the time to be very successful,” Marquardt said.
However, she doesn’t just spend time in the art room to improve her art skills.
“The most enjoyable part of my art classes are the feel-good vibes the room has to offer. When I’m having a bad day, I’ll sneak into the art room to work on my most current project and leave in a good mood,” Perry said.
She’s not only inspired by her workplace and by nature, but by making each piece leave a lingering emotion.
“I like to create things that not only challenge me but also challenge the creative mindset of viewers,” Perry said.
Although Cassie is not going to pursue it as a career, art will always play a big part in her life.
