Art History Reaction Paper - Chanda Droske and Mike Kern

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Walking into the gallery filled with ceramic pieces reminded me of the ceramics class I took my senior year in high school. Out of all the gallery openings that I have been to so far, my favorite pieces were in this one. The ceramic pieces created by Chanda Droske were placed on one side of the gallery and the work of Mike Kern on the other. While the pieces of the two have some similarities, I feel like the arrangement of the gallery highlighted the differences between them.
Coming from a family where she did crafts with her mom growing up and working with her hands all her life, the fact that Droske ended up getting a degree in ceramics seems to me to fit her lifestyle growing up. She graduated from UW Whitewater with a bachelor degree in ceramics, though she began with painting. In her work, she uses nature-inspired designs swirls, organic designs and floral designs. She mainly uses pastel colors in her work. She works with a porcelain clay body. She uses shiny glazes and fires her work at cone 10. She also uses underglaze pencils. I had never heard of this before and I learned that it is a hardened material that is used to draw on bisqueware. She tested and layered glazes. One of the things that intrigues me the most about her work is her use of colored slips. Another thing I found interesting about her presentation was that she applied to 8 different residencies. When she said that, I immediately thought, “wow, that’s a lot”. I also found it interesting when she talked about doing image transfers and when she talked about being a waitress and working on pottery at the same time. She worked on the empty bowls project. Her pieces at the show included teapots, cups, and bud vases.
Kern, on the other hand, had farmer grandpar...

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... in their styles are made obvious, both in the pieces themselves, and in the arrangement in the gallery, that there are similarities to what they do. To me, it seems their backgrounds have somewhat influenced their work. While I enjoyed all the pieces immensely, I feel more of a connection to and that I can relate more to Droske's. The colors of hers, given the opportunity, are more likely ones that I would. Also in terms of design, hers are also more similar to designs that, when it comes to pretty much anything, are more of my style. While I have nothing against the pieces that Kern does, I am more of a girly person and I think that Droske’s pieces fit the girly style, as well as even my overall personality better than Kern’s do. Overall, this artwork was simply, in my opinion, enjoyable to look at. It was an experience that also ended up being educational for me.

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