Cody Thomas

Self-Study of My Artwork
26 February 2023
Artist Statement

I make art for many reasons. I create it to express myself. I also make it to reflect on the world around me. Simply put, I make art because,
well, I like to. As an artist, I strive to integrate seamless emotion into every piece I create. My overall goal is for my audience to feel not only how I
do, but to envision a part of themselves in my work. Using a variety of colors and textures, I find art to be a convenient method that conveys a
complex message, which every person can connect to. While writing is a definitive form of communication, it leaves little room for wonder. This
very speculation, or wonder, is what makes us unique. My art affords me the opportunity to draw my audience into a realm of endless possibilities.
Given that each of us has instinctual tendency to seek some form of interconnectedness, I strive to use my abilities bring people together. In life,
we all overcome obstacles that may slow us down or force us to take the road less traveled. When all is lost, art is therapeutic means for bringing
things back into focus, sometimes with a new perspective.
 Curated Artwork
Image of Artwork Explanation of Artwork
This piece was a replication of a
comic strip I had seen in the Atlanta
Journal Constitution when I was
about to start middle school. I
thought this was funny, so I wanted
to redraw it. It allowed me to figure
out how to draw simple shapes and
measurements of artwork.
This piece was made 7/24/01 and I
used colored pencil, crayon, pencil,
and pen and is 12” x 8”.
This piece was the first close to life-
like/realistic drawing I had done of
a person. It was here I learned
about symmetry and balance. It was
after completing this piece I knew I
could draw in the sense of working
my way towards a realistic
approach. I also used it as what to
do differently in future works. This
is pencil on paper and was
completed 6/19/2002.
What was going on at the time of
creation?
The comic section from the
newspaper was what I looked
forward to every Sunday in
elementary school. I enjoyed the
simplicity of lines and colors used.
It was not detailed. I knew if I
would practice redrawing the
comics, it would allow me to get
better in the future.
Taking images from various
artworks I have seen and an old
Party City Halloween costume
mailer, I put together this piece.
By the time I arrived in high school,
my work changed to darker themed
as I continued to grow as a person
and find my identity in society. This
piece called Face of Agony depicts
how I felt at times on the inside.
This is pencil on paper, 12” x 8” and
was completed in my junior-senior
year of high school, 2006.
This piece was completed in
2/19/2015 and is a self-portrait in
four colors. This was a reduction
print with Speedball Inks. This piece
depicts myself, lonely but
determined in a way, since I
decided to start university much
later than my friends and peers that
I was in classes with.
This is when my artwork started to
reflect my emotions and thoughts
about life and my identity.
Starting college in 2015, this was
my first printmaking course. It was
a new medium and process to me. I
enjoyed every second of it. The
various ways of creating a piece of
work were interesting to me . . .
there is not just one way to do
something. That is what I have
always like about art.
This piece was my first coiled piece I
remember making while in a school
setting. The requirements were to
build a vessel that was 12” in height
max. My piece ended up being
nearly 16” in height. It was Raku
fired with a Sea Green glaze. I then
added Cholla Wood and rope to
give it a nautical look. This was
completed in 2015.
This was a wheel-throw and altered
piece. The stand was made by coils
and the base of that was wheel
thrown on the wheel. The pelican
was also thrown on the wheel, all in
one piece (except the beak). I then
threw a simply cone shape for the
beak and later attached it to the
beak. Altogether, it stands at 24”
and is 14” wide and 8” in depth.
This piece was completed in 2018.
Perhaps the most important
discovery of self as an artist is when
I took my first ceramics course at
Armstrong State. Every second I
was in the studio allowed me to
work with this new material I only
used for one days in eighth grade.
Three-dimensional work was my
strong suit and I excelled at created
works from clay. This was my
realization that I wanted to be a
potter. It was also this course that I
wanted to teach ceramics as well –
knowing how I used ceramics as a
therapy tool to get through a lot of
things in my life around this time
period.
In this advanced wheel throwing
class, I also experimented with
different clay bodies. This speckled
clay, I discovered that was made in
Atlanta and had great aesthetics in
glaze application with the three
glazes I used for this piece, that
were also experimental glazes.
For this assignment, we were to
find a ceramic artist as inspiration
to use to make our own piece. I
discovered Key West Pottery who
makes pedestal and totem poles
from clay and alters these animals
on the wheel.
This untitled piece was from a life
drawing course I had taken in the
University of North Georgia. It is
conte crayon and drawn in real-
time over three days. It measures
24” x 18” and was completed in
2017.
This life drawing course was an eye-
opening experience. I was lucky to
have such a great professor, Craig
Wilson, who taught his students
how to look at negative spaces,
how those spaces join and create a
much larger visual space, how to
look at skin tone and that a person
is not just white or black but there’s
more colors in a skin tone. I also
was shown how to relate these
colors and replace them into earth
tones or great tones.
Titled, “Not So Chocolate Easter
Bunnies” were slip-casted. Using a
3D scanner, I scanned an Easter
chocolate bunny which I then 3D
printed. After that, I made casts
from plaster and created the casts
with slip. I decided to Raku fire
them to give them a fragile
aesthetic much like a chocolate
bunny with the idea that if you
were to leave it in the sun, it will
melt. Created in 2018 and all have
various sizes: 3"-7" x 1/2"-1" x 1
1/2"-3 1/2"
This piece that depicts mountains of
north Georgia, was my first
commission piece. Completed in
2020, it is acrylic paint on sheets of
plywood. It measures roughly 8’ x
3’.
As I attended UNG, and before
working in the ceramics
department, I worked in the
MakerBot 3D printing lab. Also
taking 3D printing courses, I
learned how technology is
important with art. I used 3D
printing to make many different
types of molds. This opened new
doors for my creativity as well as
slip-casting allowing me to start
making casts for an artist in Atlanta.
My first commission piece by a
realtor and important figure in
Dahlonega, Georgia. It was a great
learning experience on how to
work with a potential client and
networking with community
members.
These are casts that I had made by
hand-building impressions into a
plaster mold as well as building
sphere molds to cast those with
slip. They were later carved. The
dome pieces range in sizes of 3” to
5”. The spheres are 12”.
I began to network with potters in
the Atlanta area. I met one artist,
David Lindsey who had no
experience making molds but
wanted to be able to create a faster
production for his work. Working
with Lindsey for over a year, I
developed many molds of all styles.
His best-selling piece are his
ceramic windchimes (pictures to
the left).
Dinnerware set I made in 2019
when I started my first position as a
studio potter at Hickory Flat
Pottery. The piece consists of a
dinnerplate, salad plate, and bowl,
along with two different tumblers.
The glaze is Northern Birch that
Cody Trautner, the owner and head
potter had invited on his own.
After graduating from UNG, I
became a studio potter where I
worked for nearly three years. Here
I learned a lot from my mentor and
friend, Cody. It’s great to share
something you created that people
want to use every day in their lives.
As I worked in the studio as a As I spent time in the studio at
potter, I began to take photos of work and at home, I noticed the
the artist’s environment. This image creative environments artists are
was taken from the day I just always in. Some are organized yet
unloaded the bisque kiln. I had to most of them are not, especially
wax the bottoms of over 300 pieces when working with clay. It began to
to begin to glaze the next day. Here interest me about how artists
you can see many functional pieces create and to capture that daily.
I had made from mugs, pitchers,
bowls, juicers, and oil cruets. I also
started to make décor such as
pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns and
other seasonal/holiday items.
The image was taken in 2019.
 Inspirational Artists
Inspirational Artist’s Work Explanation of Artwork
The Far Side comics by Gary Larson, His work in the comic section (or
1987.
This comic is about how Moses
allowing two of every animal onto
the The Ark. The zebras were not
happy about this as they would be
last.
Juxtapoz Magazine was important
to me in high school. It covers
many different artists and art forms
each issue and focuses on
contemporary art and artists.
Why is this influential?
funny papers) was always intriguing
to me. His simplistic drawings of
objects and people. It was easy
enough but also challenging to copy
his work and other artists to learn
about line, color, and placement.
This was important for me in
elementary school because I didn’t
want something advanced that I
knew I would struggle with but
something somewhat challenging. I
also just found Larson’s work to be
completely hilarious and have
collected his work.
This issue was the first I picked up
in the book/magazine area of my
local grocery store when I was in
high school. Each issue I found
some artist that was influential in a
way, from cult artists such as Todd
Shorr, tattoos artists, and Derek
Hess. This magazine is a staple in
my artistic world as it covers so
much.
Derek Hess’ work, like “Flock”
depicts a person who is waist deep
water with a raincloud over his
head. Theres a flock of birds on the
figures arm. This is 14” x 17” and
was completed in 2023.
Key West Pottery is owned my
married couple, Adam Russel &
Kelly Lever. They work as a
collaborative team in making and
designing their work. Majority from
ceramics, Adam wheel throws large
totem poles with animals on top.
This piece is from 2019.
Since high school, Derek Hess’
artwork has been influential to me
as his artistic style is non like the
rest. His gestural approaches to
feature such dark and emotional
themes and vulnerability is what
draws me into his work. I’ve used
his method of ‘rendering’ for my
work as well. It’s like a Dali sketch
but less developed and raw. Derek
Hess uses his art not just for punk
and metal artists but also for
mental health awareness.
I love the use of colors and nautical
themes. Their style is unique and
distinctive. Their glazing approach
of layering with underglazes and
wax overlay to give bold sea
through colors is what caught my
intention. I also like how Adam
alters the form of what he throws
on the wheel to make birds,
dolphins, and more.
Cody Trautner’s work, all of it,
some pictured to the left, works
with high-fire clay body and works
in wood firing, salt fire, pit firing,
and reduction firings. His specialty
is moon jars and larger vessels. All
work (except of marbled) was done
by Cody Trautner at Hickory Flat
Pottery. These pieces were
completed from 2017-2020.
While I worked with head potter
and owner of Hickory Flat Pottery
as a studio potter, I gained a lot of
knowledge of wheel-throwing,
firing and glazing styles, as well as
business sides of running a pottery
studio. His work is influential by
reviving traditional pottery
techniques like firings. He also
promotes sustainable pottery
practices by sourcing locally
materials. He also creates beautiful
functional and decorative pottery
that customers all over the world
collect.
Leonardo da Vinci’s sketchbooks I have always been admired by da
have always inspired me. They are Vinci’s sketchbooks ever since I was
windows into his creative process, a child. The pen strokes are what
research and exploration. influenced me to draw.