Pink Shell (1973) by Georgia O'Keeffe​

Life and Experience:

Georgia O'Keeffe was born on November 15th, 1887. She grew up on a farm in Wisconsin with 6 other siblings. After graduating high school in 1905, she moved to study art at the Art Institute of Chicago, then in New York at the Art Students League of New York. Her work was first published in 1916 by Alfred Stieglitz, the man who would later become her husband. In 1929, O'Keeffe began visiting New Mexico. During this time, her artwork became inspired by the Native American and Mexican culture of the area. She decided to permanently move to New Mexico in 1949. In the 1950's, she traveled abroad for her artwork and completed her last unassisted painting in 1972. Even though O'Keeffe started losing her eyesight because of macular degeneration, she did not stop creating artwork; instead she employed people to assist her. She died in 1986 at the age of 98.

Source: https://www.okeeffemuseum.org/about-georgia-okeeffe/

Construction method, and why I liked the original artwork:

I used a slab to construct this piece. First I rolled out a slab, then carved the shape of the shell and made the indents. Then I under glazed the colors and used a clear glaze on top. I really liked the colors in the original artwork, and how they kind of looked like a sunset.

Reflection and what I would do different:

I liked how the shape of this piece turned out, and I like the texture that is created by the indents in the shell. If I were to do this again, I would use different colors and try to mix more shades because the colors didn't blend very well.

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