Art major Anthony Marrone was one of six winners in the My Colby-Sawyer Experience Art and Essay Contest this spring. Marrone, who recently decided to concentrate on ceramics, submitted “Spider Pot,” pictured below, along with this description of how the piece reflects his Colby-Sawyer experience.
Spider Pot Illustrates a Web of Experience
By Anthony Marrone '10
For this contest I would like to enter a ceramic piece I titled “Spider Pot.” This piece reflects my experience here in both a literal and a metaphorical way.
The actual pot was one of the first I had ever created of its size during one of my biggest developmental stages as an artist in the field of ceramics. I look at it as a checkpoint in learning where I had figured out some important techniques that have allowed my wheel-thrown work to grow in quality, size and patterning.
The glaze combination of tenmochu and two different shinos demonstrates a new control in illustrative technique that I had discovered. At the personal level, this piece marks the time in my life when I realized that this is the kind of artwork I want to keep creating. I have developed a deep passion for ceramics over the last year and am looking forward to continuing my studies in order to obtain an M.F.A. in studio artwork with this concentration.
On the metaphorical level, this particular piece captures the experience I have had here at Colby-Sawyer through the pattern of webbing on the outside. With such a small, intimate campus, I have found that many aspects of my learning here are connected as a web. Everyone knows everyone and people are always friendly.
Any problem I run into here is solved with quick answers from caring people, who often know exactly where to go or whom to talk with concerning that issue. Without the support of those around me, I would not have developed as a person the way I feel that I have, and I give direct credit to the helpful people around me for many of the opportunities that have come my way.
With my current efforts to complete an internship, create an independent study, and apply for graduate school, the help and support from this campus is more than exceptional. I am proud of my work and I am proud to say I am a part of such a tight community. I feel that my “Spider Pot” demonstrates my Colby Sawyer experience by showing my learned abilities as a growing artist and my feelings toward this campus.
