Six Tips for Glazing Clay in the Classroom

1. I keep the glaze on a table separate from the one used by the students. Spoons are kept on the table to facilitate refills as each class needs them. This job is usually done by me in the lower grades, but the middle school students do their own refills as needed.

2. Every glaze has a number assigned to it. This stays the same every year, since I use pretty much the same colors every year.

3. The glazes are put in six lidded cups that I get at the local Flower Factory outlet, one for each table in the classroom. Each cup is numbered to match the glaze that is inside.

4.The table is covered with a plastic table cover that I use throughout the entire unit. If it becomes too dirty to clean easily, I flip it over and use the reverse side. This really saves on clean up time at the end of each clay day.

5. Since different projects use either red or white low fire clay, there is a sample star for each glaze on both kinds of clay. The name of the glaze color and its number is carved into the back of each star.

6. Each table has rotating responsibility for clean up. Glaze cups are counted, refilled, and capped by two tables. Although each student is responsible for washing his or her brushes as they are used, one table makes sure that all have been cleaned and returned to the brush jars, bristles up, of course! The sink crew makes sure the sink area is dry and no brushes, paper towels, or other debris is left behind. Tables are wiped down, the floor is swept if necessary, and the small trash cans are emptied into the large one.

To be quite honest, it has taken me ten years of trial and error to come up with this system! My classes are often large, as many as 28 students, and we only have 40 minute periods once a week. This works for both large and small classes, and with a few modifications, equally well for all my grade 4-8 classes. Grades 1-3 usually use tempera paints, which I gloss with ModPodge, in order to keep the cost of materials down.

Ceramic Architecture...Part 2...Success!!

This student is a fan of video games

Part 2 of my Ceramic Architecture projects was a more elaborate project with seventh grade art classes. Along with my fourth grade project, this  was funded by a grant from the Miami Valley Catholic Education Council. The students each chose a "client" to design for, researched a variety of architectural styles using their iPads and our classroom books as  resources, and decided on the best "style" to fit the chosen client. For the most part, the buildings were formed using slab construction, although a few students incorporated coiling to create rounded forms.  

Our Asian exchange student learned all about Sponge Bob!

I loved this cute little cottage for an artist!

Every gnome needs a good home!

Although many students had to deal with construction issues, mostly as a result of their high expectations and limited time (we have only 40 minute classes once a week), there were some excellent finished projects! 

Beach front property

Sponge Bob's retreat

Fairy tale cottage

Adobe desert home

Hey, Kate Spade...check out this retail outlet!

Smoothies, anyone?

Ice cream shop...

Useful as a little box, too!

Just a house

Log cabin in the woods

Pet shop...love the paw prints on the roof!

Although I love this project when it is over, and the students almost unanimously enjoyed the work, it isn't one I would do every year simply because it takes the better part of a semester to complete.

Ceramic Architecture, Part 1...What WAS I THINKING?!?

The fence was made from small sticks of wood after the piece was fired.

 Have you ever started a project...gotten part way through...then began wondering, "What WAS I THINKING?" That pretty much sums up my Ceramic Architecture projects for this year! I had done these two projects with grades 4 and 7 before, but I guess enough time had passed (about four years, I think) to make me forget just how much time, mess, and effort were involved!

 

Back in August, when school was just beginning and I felt fresh and ready to tackle just about anything, I wrote a grant proposal titled "Art and Architecture in America". My plan was to have the fourth grade students create relief sculpture buildings showing just the front and to have the seventh grade students use slab construction techniques to create three-dimensional buildings. The proposal included requests to fund clay, glaze, and several reference books for my classroom. I typed it up and submitted it to the Miami Valley Catholic Schools Office...and waited. In November, I received a check, ordered supplies...and waited a bit more. Finally in January, we were ready to start! 

 

After a read aloud session with the book Iggy Peck Architect by Andrea Beaty, the fourth graders spent a class period looking through the new reference materials, then drew the sketch for their building design in an 8-inch square of paper. Early finishers got out the crayons or markers to plan out their color scheme. During the next two art classes, the students rolled out their clay, traced the outline of their building, cut it out, and learned the importance of "score, slip, smooth" when attaching pieces of clay. The project requirements were simple: include a door, windows, a roof, and any other identifying details for your building. 

A muffin shop and bakery

A house for a bunny rabbit...so cute!

 

Of course, as with any art class that meets only once per week, there is bound to be a glitch...or two...or three! In this case, it was a string of snow days in late January and early February. Combine that with more than a few absences due to winter illness, and the actual construction process ended up taking three class periods instead of two for some students. 

Finally, the first pieces were up from the kiln and the glazing began! This was the first experience many of my fourth graders had with glaze, but the students did well and there were very few color surprises when the glaze firing was completed.

This drawing was done after the clay project was finished.

Haunted fun house!

During our post-project discussions, many students said that they loved the project, but that they discovered that transforming an idea from paper to a 3-dimensional form was harder than they had expected. So for a final drawing challenge, the students used geometric shape forms to create a new idea for a building design. Many of these turned out really well, but unfortunately, I forgot to take photographs before the work went home and only have this one of the haunted fun house!

Let's hear it for the Greeks!

 Although red clay is not my favorite form of clay to work with, I had to keep this project as authentic as possible, so red clay it was. The art studio classroom was covered with fine red dust and my sinks were a mess for several weeks, but the results were worth it!

The sixth graders were ready to begin their history unit on Ancient Greece, so I met with their classroom teacher to make sure my project ideas would fit in with hers. In the end, we decided that the pottery was a perfect fit, as was the iPad project based on her "Greek Day" event that I will post about soon.

 The students already knew how to make coil pots, so we used that technique to create these lovely urns, pitchers, and bowls. I found some great resources posted by other art and history teachers, which we used to see the various designs and styles used by the Greeks at different times in their history.

One of the most useful resources is a PowerPoint created by Kevin J. Benoy. Great photos and lots of information are presented in a format perfect for middle school students. Another excellent site for all things Greek is a website created by Mr. Donn, called Ancient Greece for Kids. Both the history teacher and I used this site extensively during this unit. There are also numerous resources online for images of the various patterns commonly found on Greek pottery, which the students used to create a preliminary sketch for their own project.

We used AMACO Velvet Underglaze in white and black for the designs. I bisque fired the clay first to avoid any issues with breakage trying to apply glaze on greenware. Before the final firing, the students had the option of leaving the piece this way, or adding a layer of clear gloss glaze to add shine to the piece. The results were stunning either way!

This is one of my favorite pieces, simply because of all the details this student took the time to include. She worked an extra art class to complete it, but it was well-worth the time and effort!

Now that the red dust has settled, and we're on to other things, I can honestly say that I agree with the students who said this was "the best clay project yet". Chances are good that I will repeat this one again next year!

Fabulous Face Jugs!

 

One of my favorite clay projects to teach to my fifth grade students is this one! Face Jugs have a fascinating history tied to the days of slavery and the Civil War, which they study in the middle grades. I first learned about Face Jugs on a visit to the Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina, several years ago. This regional art museum was hosting an exhibit of face jugs, some found at historic sites and on loan from collectors, and others created by contemporary artists living and working in the Carolinas. I immediately knew that this would make a great cross-curricular project and have done it ever since! In past years, we painted with acrylics, but this year I was fortunate enough to have the funds for glaze...yay!

Alien Face Jug

Love this fierce Face Jug!

Sometimes they get a bit silly!

Kitty Jug's whiskers are bits of leather lacing, hot glued after firing.

Although our face jugs have a contemporary twist, the students enjoyed learning about the history of this craft from the following sites before designing and creating their own art work. 

Jim McDowell is a North Carolina potter who is carrying on the tradition in honor of his ancestors, who survived, or did not survive, the Middle Passage, a journey that led to a life of slavery for so many.

The Kuehn Pottery website features the work of potter Karl Kuehn. His site includes YouTube videos showing him at work creating his face jugs and other ceramic pieces. It also includes a link to a PBS video detailing the history of face jugs and the Middle Passage, which my students found very interesting. 

Although the glaze was a little thin, this little Fish Face Jug is so cute! 

 Up next, I'll be posting ceramic work from my sixth grade students, who have been studying ancient Greece. Our Greek urns are almost ready for their debut!