Midterm Project/Presentation Requirements

The multi-media assignment was introduced on December 18th and the students will be working on it in and out of class during the first three weeks in January. Students should come prepared to hit the ground running on creating and documenting their midterm piece beginning on January 5th.

Students will be required to create a functional or decorative piece and will photograph it throughout the evolution of its construction. The piece must be constructed of at least three different components to create a new and unique form. The finished work must be able to fit in a shoebox.  (For an example: the piece featured above consists of 5 components - a foot, 2 bowls to create a sphere and 2 conical forms. However, it is larger than would fit in a shoebox.) The size limitation is due to the time constraint of building a larger piece.

The photographs will become part of a narrated slideshow where the student explains his/her intentions, techniques and process. The slideshow will be created on their iPads using the educreations app.

Ceramic Work = 50 points.
Narrated Slide-Show = 50 points.
The mid-term assignment requirements and rubrics are available here.

Ceramic Lanterns

We are creating clay lanterns. Included is my demo/sample.

Students are required to design the overall form and create a plan of attack to construct it applying the handbuilding skills they are developing. Students are also required to design the cut out...and of course, cut them out! That's the hard part!

As part of their research for design inspiration and possibilities, I am encouraging them to check out these links to different cultures and artists who work with cut paper. Cutting clay is a VERY different experience than cutting paper - but seeing the possibilities are always inspiring.

German paper cutting: Scherenschnitte
Chinese Paper Cutting

Beatrice Coron
Peter Callesen
Bovey Lee

Stay Up to Date with Our Progress!

Student work on our HTHS Ceramics Pinterest Board!  Click here!

Links for Inspiration and Research

Lakeside Pottery - great ideas for slab construction

Here are a few Pinterest links to check out for clay:

I just started my own.

Ms. Kelly Gartland is one of my former students! HTHS 2003 - Art teacher at Moorestown HS :-)

Shannah Dean - ceramics board

Clay Stages

or.... SoPoLoGoBoGo as I call them! Slip, Plastic, Leather Hard, Greenware, Bisque and Glazeware.

My students are learning the clay stages. To help them remember, they made a list of descriptive words for the stage they were assigned.

Here is what their descriptions for the four middle clay stages look like when made into a wordle! :-)

Written Assignment

My ceramics students only:

Please complete this form for the clay stage you were assigned in class.

 

Dirty hands = Engaged minds

We have been busy and learning so much! Students have created several bowls, test tiles for glazing practice and a cup. So far we have glazed our bowls and are beginning the work on our multi-technique vessel. More pictures coming soon!