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!

It's Not Halloween Without Pumpkins!

My third graders had a blast creating their clay jack-o'-lanterns the past few weeks! I originally saw the idea in either Arts and Activities or School Arts about seven or eight years ago and have been doing variations on the project ever since. I skip the glazes and instead we use tempera and Mod Podge. Quicker and a lot less expensive!

I love the little Mini-Me in this Jack's hand!

Cute little bows on this Jack...or is it Jackie?

Look closely to see the teeth in Dracu-Jack!

Not to be outdone, my sixth, seventh, and eighth grade Muse Club students came up with some creative interpretations of old Jack at our club's Halloween Breakfast Club Meeting during Halloween week. I put out foam pumpkins from JoAnn Fabrics, pieces of foam, colored permanent markers, yarn, glue, and glitter and let the creative juices flow along with the fruit juice and doughnuts!

 

Yes, those are Elvis-style sideburns!

I love it when a student applies something learned in class...
in this case, Zentangles!

Love this artistic interpretation!

Brings to mind Phantom of the Opera for me!

Of course, the kitty cats are always crowd-pleasers!

Look closely for this Jack's face...it's there!

My second, third, and fourth grade students voted for their favorite pumpkins and of course, prizes were awarded.

 



Abstract Jacks...Same idea, Different Grade Levels

Sometimes the best projects are the result of a last-minute unanticipated change in plans. This lesson turned out to be a good example of this for me!

Abstract Jacks is my fourth grade October project. The idea for using jack-o'-lanterns to teach an oil pastel lesson about abstraction was originally submitted to Incredible @rt Department by Stephanie Corder. This year my students drew their jack-o'-lanterns, then they used one of our homemade viewfinders to choose the most interesting composition. After drawing the enlargement on 90# paper, the students chose a 3-color combination from our color wheel review (primary, secondary, warm, or cool colors) and painted their Abstract Jacks with tempera paints.

 

 

About mid-way though the fourth grade project, my eighth graders were getting close to completing a drawing project using one-point perspective. I knew they needed something more relaxing for the next lesson, but still wanted to stay on target with the curriculum. That's when I had that "A-ha!" moment...color theory review, blending colors, altering images...perfectly suited for an up-scaled version of Abstract Jacks!

 

 

 

This is a project that will definitely be done again next year!

 

 

 

 

MUSE Machine...bringing the arts to schools!

Our new year with MUSE Machine got off to a fantastic start with a special workshop in mid-September to welcome our new sixth grade class and introduce them to the MUSE Machine secondary program.

What is this MUSE Machine?

Just one of the most amazing arts organizations anywhere...and it's in Dayton, Ohio!

Our music teacher and I have been secondary level (grades 6-12) club advisors for the past five years. Through this organization, we have met and worked with some of the most creative and talented visual and performing artists you could ever hope to meet. But even more important, our students have been enriched by these artists through in-school performances, artist residencies, and field trips to arts venues.


"So You Think You Can't Dance?" proved to be a high-energy hour with choreographer Lula Elzy (Lula Elzy Dance Theatre of New Orleans) and actor and Wright State University musical theatre director, Joe Deer, two of MUSE Machine's arts partners. They challenged our returning seventh and eighth grade MUSE Club members and the entire sixth grade class to put on their "dancing shoes" and prove that middle school students CAN dance!


Everyone had a great time, including myself, my fellow Muse Machine advisor, Sherri (music teacher), and all four sixth grade teachers.





Later in the month, our full season of Muse Machine in-school performances opened with a performance of "Historical!" by The Human Race Theatre Company, one of Dayton's many awesome performing arts organizations. Scott Stoney, resident artist with Human Race and script writer for "Historical", and four young actors took the students on a journey through critical events in American history using the musical, an all-American art form, as their vehicle.

Songs included "But, Mr. Adams" from 1776, a heart-felt medley from The Civil War that included "Judgment Day" and "Tell My Father", and a humorous rendition of "Thank You, Herbert Hoover" from Annie.  The 40-minute performance ended with a moving rendition of "The Gun Song" from Assassins, a very timely commentary on today's culture and gun violence. After the performance, the actors and Mr. Stoney conducted an informative Q & A session for the students before everyone headed back to prepare for dismissal.

We'll be looking forward to November 5, the date of our next MUSE Machine in-school performance!

Dot Day Success Stories!

September 15, International Dot Day, has become International Dot Month for my classroom! I only see each group of students once a week and I have a tendency to start with a "small" idea that seems to take on a life of its own once the students get started. Here are just a few photos from our finished projects. We had a few schedule changes, so not every grade level is represented yet, but we're working on it!

Many first graders had never used oil pastels before, so this was a lesson in using them with pan tempera paints. The fun was in seeing their pleasure at realizing that the tempera paint could not cover up the oil pastel work....new vocabulary word...resist!

I love the expression on this face!

The second graders created "tie dye" backgrounds for our Dot Day bulletin board using super-sized coffee filters. This was a team project, so each student also made a "personal size" dot to take home using standard filters. Great fun!

This third graders have been working on "long and tall" art, so their groups worked together to make long or tall collage Dot Day projects using a variety of art materials and full access to our collage box of abandoned, unclaimed artwork from the previous year. It was like being on a treasure hunt as each group looked for the perfect bits to add to their creations!

 



   

The sixth grade students worked in teams using iPads to photograph dots found in the art room. Once they had created their album of dots, they used their best photos in the PicCollage app to complete the project.

 

 Our middle school art club, known as Muse Club because of our affiliation with Dayton's Muse Machine, created some Dot Day paintings at our September club meeting.

So, all in all, September has been a month filled with creativity and collaboration...thanks to the inspiration provided by Peter Reynolds and his little book, "The Dot"!