Applicability of symmetry and asymmetry in ceramic arts and personel comments

Symmetry and asymmetry, met in everyday life since the beginning of humanity, are the two important components common in natural sciences, social sciences, and branches of art. Although they have different definitions and functions in different areas, basically they have similar structural features. Symmetry and asymmetry form the basis for human and animal anatomy, molecular structures, mathematical formulas, occurrences in nature, and universal organization. In this respect, these concepts are the basic and indispensable components of life. Symmetry and asymmetry are the two concepts used in all disciplines of art. Examples of them can be seen since the early periods of history in the fields of painting, sculpture, ceramics, architecture as well as visual arts and visual communication such as graphics, music and cinema art of today. In this thesis, the definitions of symmetry and asymmetry in contemporary arts, their types, physical and psychological reasons as well as their relation with aesthetics have been addressed. The evolution of these two concepts with respect to art works and the approaches made by the artists in visual and plastic arts have been determined. Also, the important roles undertaken by symmetry and asymmetry in the field of ceramics have been examined both in the design and application stages. In the art of ceramics, it is noticed that symmetry has been evaluated as an aesthetics value heavily standing out with surface motifs. However, it has also been found remarkable that, in ceramics forms, the number of studies that have used symmetry and asymmetry as the main tool for directing the main structure is limited. Based on this fact, the usability of symmetry and asymmetry with ceramic materials in clay lathing, manual shaping, mold shaping and rotting have been discussed. The works obtained as the result of the study has indicated that symmetry and asymmetry have different visual effects in the art of ceramics. Keywords: Symmetry, asymmetry, ceramics, art, balance