County Farm Park

My 5th and 6th graders started a long term project with Sam and Jason--to create a field guild of County Farm Park. We took the opportunity to sketch the flora they were researching on site.

Working with a coil

This was a quick project: the students were asked to roll coils and create a small pot, with the walls angling in. Technically, this is difficult–I love the fresh results!

The kiln, more clay, and glazing

Many of the kids are interested in firing the ceramic kiln. Daniel helped with making the cone packs–a series of specially formulated glass-like cones that melt at particular temperatures.  Most of the pottery we are making will be fired near 2000ºF (cone 03).

"Greenware" cups ready for bisque firing.

Our second project was to make a simple coil vessel.

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Month One: Clay Exploration

Our first month of art for the Middle School students at Summer-Knoll we explored clay. Using rich terra-cotta, we made marks, textures, and designs. We cut out tiles to use as tests for different color and glaze combinations.

Artist "chop" was created with our initials or a symbol that will be used as our signatures when we make objects in clay.

We used the information gathered from our test tiles to make  cups. The students were asked to make multiple drawings of their home landscapes (open to interpretation here) then abstract and also simplify one of these drawings. We took these altered ideas and made drawings directly on a wet slab of clay. The wet slabs where carefully curved into cups using a template.