Olivia DeTraglia

Throughout my time in high school, and more specifically during the shutdown and pandemic, I have grown to find a love for and comfort in ceramics and sculpture. I took many 3D Art and Figurative Sculpture classes, where I was first able to find this passion and cultivate it. I learned to throw on the wheel and began filling my time sculpting small human figures. Most recently, I have created ceramic sculptures of a human hand, a foot in an arced position, and my largest sculpture yet, a life-sized torso that spans from mid-thigh to neck.

For this project, I will be going more in-depth on my past work, creating additional sculptures, and furthering my sculpting abilities. As I learn more techniques and am able to better perfect my understanding of the body I will see and be able to measure my success throughout the project. I don’t have a set amount of sculptures I hope to accomplish because I am not entirely sure the length of time one sculpture will take. Attempting these projects will be challenging and will take a lot of trial and error. I do, however, hope to have a few different large sculptures and some thrown pots or other pieces, which I will learn to decorate with sgraffito, at the end of the project.

My days will consist of mostly studio time, accompanied by classes (both offered by the school and others), studying visuals on the human body, and learning how to mimic the images through drawing as well as through sculpture. Additionally, I will be keeping a sketchbook with me, which will serve as a mode to both further my artistic abilities in an area that I am less familiar with and allow me to gain a different perspective on how to see proportions and shapes of the body through the drawing of figures. Throughout this project, I hope to grasp a better understanding of human anatomy and expand my sculptural skills. My project will be primarily hands-on, spending the majority of my time sculpting and throwing on the wheel. I will be working independently and with the guidance of Shauna. The many different aspects of my project will allow me to grow in a variety of ways, furthering my technical sculpting ability, my artistic drawing abilities, and my knowledge and application of anatomy.