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Community Challenge #4


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Welcome to the community challenge #4

 
This is a place where we can challenge ourselves alongside other community members to create ceramic works within the constraints set out in each challenge.
 
The Challenge
 
This challenge is to make a hydria.
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The Rules

  • Everybody can enter the challenge, all you need is a registered account on the forum.
  • Work in progress (WIP) images are encouraged. It can help to talk through your research and ideas but please don't spam the topic. Keep the updates informative and succinct.
  • One final entry per community member, images no larger than 1024 pixels wide/high.
  • Attach images to your final entry post along with the text Final Entry - Forum Name
  • This will make sure you are not missed out of the results thread. Also make sure you post your final entry in this thread to be entered into the challenge.
  • The challenge will run quarterly and will be
    • 1st February to 29th April, 
    • 1st May to 30st July, 
    • 1st August to 30st October, 
    • 1st November to 30st January.
  • The results thread will be posted on the last day of the ending month. It will be a collection of all the entries into one post for condensed viewing and some post challenge discussion.
  •  

The Rest
Remember you are entering for your own enjoyment and there could be a risk that your work develops into something new and exciting.
Be considerate of others and don't post opinions without good reasons to back them up. We are all here to improve and progress with our ceramics.
Some dates may vary slightly as this is a community run project and it will depend on members having access to the forum.
 
Have any ideas for a challenge? Post them in the ideas thread http://community.ceramicartsdaily.org/topic/7794-submit-your-challenge-ideas/

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WOW, how challenging... but then again, the titel of the topic is Community Challenge. Well done Joel. Very good choice of theme!

 

I was secretly hoping the theme for the 4th challenge is for something I can pick up from the shelve in my studio. But no, never made a Hydria before. Not even something similar. So because I have to have surgery on the left hand end of November (the right hand is healing all right, thanks to all your positive vibes!) I can't participate in the 4th challange :( . I will come here though from time to time to have a look how my forum friends struggle with the Hydria...

 

Ready-set-go!

 

Evelyne

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Sorry it's not something you can pick up :P I wanted to choose a shape hopefully not to many people will have made before or made many of. Doesn't need to be thrown so if you could do a little hand building :D no size specifications either so it can be tiny if you like.

 

I was thinking two parts but had a few goes making it in one go. go go go.

 

Tough to get the big flat shoulder and thin neck.

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I am enjoying the flattened rim on them. IT is a technique I have done on a few pieces inspired by some ancient pottery at my local art museum.  Several designs have the tall handle which I also LOVE.  I can't wait to finish my wholesale order so I can do this!  I already have a few design ideas for the story of the pot. ;)

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Hi everyone,

 

This is my first post to the community (I started throwing this year) and thought I'd start off this challenge by undertaking some research on the Hydria form and sharing it with you...

 

I canvassed the web and pinned about 80 ancient and some modern images to this Pinterest board: https://www.pinterest.com/bluecowme/ceramic-arts-challenge-make-a-hydria/

 

For the history buffs there is a rather cool website called the Hydria Project that 'links water in antiquity with modern needs' - they have some pages on ancient clay practices http://www.hydriaproject.net/en/greece-aegina-water-vessels/waterworks26/and some pics of modern potters on the greek islands.  Apparently on the Aegina Island of Greece they called the Hydria "Kanatia" from 19th-20th C and they seem to have lost two of the handles by this time in history. One of the Aegina potters has a video throwing the modern form

- in greek so I can't understand it but I am always mesmerized by the throwing process and how everyone has their own technique - he sits sideways and uses a tiny wheel suspended above a bigger wheel.

 

Cheers,

Bianca

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So the form isn't much bigger than a pitcher then? I was confused because I was thinking if it has two handles it must be for bringing water a long distance. But then I was like if they are pouring it with one handle it must be not to heavy. Makes sense. It is like a larger version of a pitcher with a big belly.

It's actually quite large from what I have seen. The belly of the pot seems to be about the size of a basketball. (from the ones I have seen in the museum and on youtube)  Since this challenge is an interpretation, not an exact replica, I suppose the size you make is completely up to you.  But if you want to see some type it into the search on youtube and you will be pleasantly surprised. 

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So the form isn't much bigger than a pitcher then? I was confused because I was thinking if it has two handles it must be for bringing water a long distance. But then I was like if they are pouring it with one handle it must be not to heavy. Makes sense. It is like a larger version of a pitcher with a big belly.

 

Hi Joseph - from the Art History website: "The hydria, primarily a pot for fetching water, derives its name from the Greek word for water. Hydriai often appear on painted Greek vases in scenes of women carrying water from a fountain (06.1021.77), one of the duties of women in classical antiquity. A hydria has two horizontal handles at the sides for lifting and a vertical handle at the back for dipping and pouring. Of all the Greek vase shapes, the hydria probably received the most artistically significant treatment in terracotta and in bronze.

 

The evolution of the terracotta hydria from the seventh century B.C. to the third century B.C. is well represented in the Greek collection of the Metropolitan Museum. The earliest vessels typically have a wide body and broadly rounded shoulder. Sometime before the middle of the sixth century B.C., however, the shape evolved into one with a flatter shoulder that meets the body at a sharp angle (06.1021.77). By the end of the sixth century B.C., a variant, known as a kalpis, developed (56.171.31). With a continuous curve from the lip through the body of the vessel, it became the type favored by red-figure vase painters. Terracotta black-glaze hydriai of the late Classical period were sometimes decorated with a gilt wreath that was painted or applied in shallow relief around the vase's neck. These gilt wreaths imitated actual gold funerary wreaths that were placed around bronze hydriai, examples of which have been found in Macedonian tombs. Hydriai from this later, Hellenistic, period tend to be more slender and elongated."

 

In terms of size, Arts Connected documents one of the jars at 20 3/4 x 17 x 15 in. (52.71 x 43.18 x 38.1 cm) and another one at 25 1/2 x 17 1/2 x 13 3/8 in. (64.77 x 44.45 x 33.97 cm) so pretty big jars (well, at least for an amateur like me!).

 

For fun, there is a detailed description of the myth associated with one of these famous pots and how the pot was crafted (using the natural terracotta colour as background, painted with black engobe and encised).

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Hng'aaaahh!!

THREE handles???

O.o

I grumble about attaching ONE! :D

Geez...they are such gorgeous forms, though. Wow. I wonder if I can hire a wedging monkey to assist in helping me make one of these beauties. :D

I'll try! No promises that it'll be bigger than 5-6" tall, though... Little guineas can't throw big pots!

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The big challenge is the finish - I've got details somewhere but from memory they applied terra sigillata over the whole pot, scraped it off for the black areas, then reduction fired it for just long enough for the raw clay to turn black with the reduction, but the terra sigillata to stay red as it acts as a protective layer to some extent, delaying the onset of reduction. Anyone with a gas kiln want to have a go at that?

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Multi-piece construction is totally the way to go.  The hydria Joseph F. is classified as a Kalpis, used a lot in attic red figure.  In my opinion, they're a bit of a virtuoso piece, because getting that much terracotta, that thin, to take a good shoulder (and some of the finest examples are pretty wobbly) is an incredible feat.  Attic clay's also miraculous stuff--there's a reason the same clay pits were still in use into the late 20th C.

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So because I have to have surgery on the left hand end of November (the right hand is healing all right, thanks to all your positive vibes!) I can't participate in the 4th challange :( . I will come here though from time to time to have a look how my forum friends struggle with the Hydria...

 

Evelyne, do you think you could make a tiny mini one perhaps? ;) 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Is there a limit on size? And does it have to be used to carry water ... say 2-3 lbs to be used as a planter? ;) Joking about the water, not the rest. 

 

No limits other than the shape/form, even that is up to interpretation really. It must be based off the hydria :D a point to start some thoughts.

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