Workshops

Friday, November 27, 2015

Clay Week 2015!!!

Fifth Grade Slump Bowls

Every year, right before the holiday break, I have a week of clay making for my students.  We discuss functional art and how ceramics has a HUGE impact on our lives.  I tell them, "we all come into contact with ceramics every single day... we all take a seat on a ceramic throne... the toilet!" It always gets them giggling. In fact, several parents have shared with me that their child could not wait to tell them that toilets were ceramic works of art! 

Here are some pictures of my very busy week.  Tomorrow is the last day.  Then a few days of firing and then the finishing of pieces.  I will post more on how I finish the pieces in a couple weeks.

Fifth Grade Made Long Plate/Bowls. The clay is slumped in styrofoam trays I bought online. $35.00 for 500 of these babies! They are for packaging lemons!  They are the perfect size!  We rolled the clay and used a bunch of clay stamps I made years ago for texturing. Some students used rubber stamps too. This is what it looked like...














Fourth Grade made Decorative Plates. These can be made as holiday plates, winter plates or all year round plates.  It was up to the individual! I have lots of cookie cutters, big and small.  Winter is a favorite theme...








Third Grade made Drape Textured Bowls.  We use the rubber texture mats and rubber stamps.  These are a favorite!  They love making something so functional! We slump them over the short plastic cocktail cups you get at the grocery store.  I cover them with paper towel so the clay does not stick.  Works just great!









Second Grade makes Luminaries!  We roll out clay, cut out some stars and roll the slab onto a pop can.  Then the stars we cut get glued on!  Super simple!








First Grade made Clay Owls...a simple one I have seen online, but have been making for over 20 years.  I have an old ceramics book from the 1960's that has this project in it.  An oldie but goodie!





After firing all 500+ clay projects, on to finishing! Stay tuned... :)





Wednesday, November 18, 2015

1st Grade - Picasso Clowns




This lesson is an "oldie but goodie".  My mother and her art teacher pals created this lesson years ago.  It has been a great one to pull out every few years.  Students look at Picasso Portraits, (Picasso Prezi), and Picasso's Clown he did with simple line.  We create ours with black tempera and warm and cool oil pastels.  They are always super cute in a group at the arts festival!  This is an easy 2 week lesson with great results!















Tuesday, November 3, 2015

1st Grade - Cityscapes AND Seascapes!

I love teaching young ones to notice the details of the world.  Pointing out the differences within the landscape of our city, state and all over the world opens up our students minds to notice the details. Both these two projects include an element of printmaking.  The city, we used cardboard and black paint to print a city and the seascape, we folded our paper to print the reflection of our boats.  Both of these projects I found on Pinterest, and have adapted to my classroom.  Enjoy!