Richard G. Ramirez on tue 15 jan 02
Craig,
Sawdust firing works well with kids this age. I've used burnished
bone-dry pots, many had pits blown out, but controlling the amount of air
into my punched holed trash can took care of most of those problems. Also
the type and size of sawdust makes a difference. Later, low bisque had a
better impact on my success. Should have at least 8 good hours or more of
smoldering, inside under a hood better for school safety procedures. Try it,
you like it! Richard G. Ramirez, "The Clay Stalker"
----- Original Message -----
From: "Craig Clark"
To:
Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2002 4:40 PM
Subject: Clay Projects for Middle School Students
Is there anyone on the list that has experience with clay and middle
school students? I've been asked by a local middle school to teach some clay
classes as a visiting potter type person. The director is open to the length
and scope of the program and there are reasonable finanacial resources.
He did mention that he would like to expose the students to "primitive"
firing techniques. I'm consisering raku demos/participation (which I know a
good bit about) and possibly a pit firing (which I know very little about.)
Any suggestions?
Craig Dunn Clark
619 East 11 1/2 st
Houston, Texas 77008
mudman@hal-pc.org
____________________________________________________________________________
__
Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
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Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
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Craig Clark on tue 15 jan 02
Is there anyone on the list that has experience with clay and middle =
school students? I've been asked by a local middle school to teach some =
clay classes as a visiting potter type person. The director is open to =
the length and scope of the program and there are reasonable finanacial =
resources.
He did mention that he would like to expose the students to =
"primitive" firing techniques. I'm consisering raku demos/participation =
(which I know a good bit about) and possibly a pit firing (which I know =
very little about.)
Any suggestions?
Craig Dunn Clark
619 East 11 1/2 st
Houston, Texas 77008
mudman@hal-pc.org
L. P. Skeen on tue 15 jan 02
craig,
the mostest funnest thing I did w/ my kids in clay was make clay face
portraits. I had the kids make themselves, or what they THINK they look
like, in clay. (no mirrors available). This gave us the chance to talk
about facial features and how the underlying bone affects how the face
looks. They never had thought about how faces are not just flat before.
Big fun. Of course, NONE of the faces looked like their makers, but that
was not the point.......
L
----- Original Message -----
From: "Craig Clark"
To:
Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2002 7:40 PM
Subject: Clay Projects for Middle School Students
Is there anyone on the list that has experience with clay and middle
school students? I've been asked by a local middle school to teach some clay
classes as a visiting potter type person. The director is open to the length
and scope of the program and there are reasonable finanacial resources.
He did mention that he would like to expose the students to "primitive"
firing techniques. I'm consisering raku demos/participation (which I know a
good bit about) and possibly a pit firing (which I know very little about.)
Any suggestions?
Craig Dunn Clark
619 East 11 1/2 st
Houston, Texas 77008
mudman@hal-pc.org
____________________________________________________________________________
__
Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
melpots@pclink.com.
Jim Tabor on wed 16 jan 02
Craig-
I appreciate your response to my "Criteria" post. Here is some thoughts for middle school claywork. I will send some student examples of the project to you.
My nine week ceramic classes produce five assignments and as many free projects as time will allow. Their favorite is a coil construction with a black vitreous engobe sgraffito form that must be taller than wide, I encourage them to make the opening small enough to focus attention to the surface
design and consider how the graphic quality will enhance the form. The exposed clay and slip are to be as close to a 50/50 combination as they can get. Variety and contrast are important concepts to demonstrate for a more dynamic result. Examples of two excellent works by Marty Ray (Dallas artist)
are in the room for students to study along with good and bad student work and examples from pictures.
Claybody colors range between tan to dark reddish brown depending on the contrast the student wants. Except for this project, I make all our clays. For this, however, I purchase Trinity Ceramic's terra cotta that fires to a nice dark red brown at cone 1 (least contrast but a nice combination with the
black). Interiors are glazed black. Cobalt, iron, and chrome are added to the slip with enough frit to get a nice surface. Two coats on leather hard clay and the drawing begins. Students bring their own clean plastic grocery sack to keep our dirty plastic from contaminating the surface. Blunt tools
(dull pencils) and small loop tools are used to remove slip with attention to the pattern/texture where slip is carved. Mistakes can be scraped away and new slip applied. Students can explore the technique on a small tile to gain confidence.
The slip project can work well on 8 x 8 tiles too if time and storage are limited. My students work with 5+ pounds of clay for the coil constructions. The primary concern of the form is that students understand how to refine their work. Appropriate thickness for the size, smooth inside and out, and
free of lumps and scars are required. Rims and openings are deliberate. Every little thing matters. Wooden spoons are used as they allow students a better view as they stretch out the forms or smooth the interior. Metal or wooden ribs get the lumps out. Students complain as they are sent back to
refine their form but they like what they accomplish because they always achieve beyond what they think they could do in a beginning ceramics class. Figurative images are not done well very often because the image is drawn like a negative. I show a normal drawing on the computer (the way we are
accustomed to drawing with black on white) and invert it to white on black. It is a vivid illustration of the problem they need to consider for most figurative designs.
The project takes 10 - 12 hours of class time.
A quicker version can be done as a slab project using tar paper to control larger slab constructions and produce simple shapes for the sgraffito design or as a polychrome slip project as we do for covered jars.
Jim Tabor
Tulsa
Craig Clark wrote:
> Is there anyone on the list that has experience with clay and middle school students? I've been asked by a local middle school to teach some clay classes as a visiting potter type person. The director is open to the length and scope of the program and there are reasonable finanacial resources.
> He did mention that he would like to expose the students to "primitive" firing techniques. I'm consisering raku demos/participation (which I know a good bit about) and possibly a pit firing (which I know very little about.)
> Any suggestions?
> Craig Dunn Clark
> 619 East 11 1/2 st
> Houston, Texas 77008
> mudman@hal-pc.org
>
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at melpots@pclink.com.
Nanci Bishof on wed 16 jan 02
Craig,
I teach Middle School, grades 6, 7 & 8. Eighth graders get 3-D art. I use
clay as the media. The kids have 1 semester in class. Many have never had art
before. We do not have wheels so our projects develop handbuilt work. Our
High School does have wheels. Each class has a 1 - 2 day lecture and demo
introduction to the science, safety and techniques of handling clay.
My opening project is coil built vessels. Soup bowls for the Empty Bowl
project. Gives kids a handle on coil construction and design. They have to
make thumbnail sketches, learn about criteria and form matching function. I
usually incorporate the Element of Line for the surface decoration. They make
one to give and one to keep. Each project is critiqued one-on-one with the
student to determine whether or not they were successful in meeting criteria.
Craftsmanship and neatness are always criteria for any project.
Next we tackle slab construction with a "Spirit Box". The box must reflect in
some way their personality or interests. We make decorative stamps for
surface texture. We are then on to pinch pots. These become critters through
attachments.
Sometimes we do tile. They can do carving, molding or decorative surfaces.
Right now we have begun the making of tiles for a mosaic mural for our Media
Center.
Final projects are a construction of their choice, but must incorporate at
least 2 construction methods. The semester goes far too fast. Kids love clay.
nanci
Richard Aerni on wed 16 jan 02
Craig,
Two years ago I was asked by my son's 6th grade teacher if I would come in
and do a clay unit with the class. She left it up to me what we would do.
I decided to design a project that would interact with their history class,
where they were studying Islamic history. We ended up designing and
building a series of Islamic style tile groupings. I prepared a slide
lecture for the entire class (there were 100 in the 6th grade) showing
styles of Islamic tilework on mosques and in buildings throughout the
Islamic world, and comparing it with western Christian artwork of the same
periods, explaining the origins and meaning of the differing styles. Then I
divided them up into teams of between 5-7 students, gave them blank 6 x 6
paper forms, and asked them to come up, as a team, with their own designs
for their mural. Some took an individualistic approach to the task, others
worked with repeating motifs, either singly or in groups of tiles. Then I
rolled out and cut up the tiles for them, and brought them in leather hard.
They worked from the paper tile blanks, and either incised or else got into
serious cutting away to get their design onto clay. I also mixed up about
12 colors of underglaze for them to use, and they then applied the colors to
the tiles while bone dry. After bisqueing, a clear glaze was applied and
they were fired in the school's kilns to cone 1. The results were stunning!
The kids had a blast, and everyone had their own unique project in the end.
The smallest mural was 18 x 18, and the largest 2 x 3 feet. Since the
district had just built a new middle school, the superintendant decided to
incorporate the murals into the hall walls. The project got a lot of press,
which was good for the kids and the district. I decided to retire from
this, as they were making noises about doing it every year, and I wasn't
sure I was up to the job.
Good luck, and have fun. The kids are delightful at that age.
Richard Aerni
Bloomfield, NY
Is there anyone on the list that has experience with clay and middle
school students? I've been asked by a local middle school to teach some clay
classes as a visiting potter type person. The director is open to the length
and scope of the program and there are reasonable finanacial resources.
He did mention that he would like to expose the students to "primitive"
firing techniques. I'm consisering raku demos/participation (which I know a
good bit about) and possibly a pit firing (which I know very little about.)
Any suggestions?
Craig Dunn Clark
619 East 11 1/2 st
Houston, Texas 77008
mudman@hal-pc.org
Jim Tabor on wed 16 jan 02
Greetings Craig-
As I was going through images of the sgraffito project to send you, I saw images of another student favorite. The self portrait project includes a full figure with a drawing board and self portrait of their face from a photograph. The full figure is a quick study in solid clay in a position on the
floor holding a drawing board with their picture on it. Students capture themselves in a variety of poses for the clay form. Their picture on the drawing board, as if they drew it, is placed with the figure. The irony of the clay gesture and the accurate "drawing" works well. Students wish they could
draw that good.
A red clay is mixed with grog, fine sawdust, and vermiculite to create a body that works well as much as 2 inches thick for figures in the 10 - 12 inch range. I hope you have good ventilation for firing. The body is pretty with gold flecks in it. I do this project in all ceramic but I think it would
be fine with paper prints too. Students make a clay tile for their drawing board 2.5 x 3.75 inches. A paper mask is used to block out the area as paper on the red clay and a clear glaze is fired on the "paper" area. Digital photographs are ganged into a screen to print ceramic decals and the image is
fired to represent their "drawing". I get 12 images per screen and use a 85 line halftone printed through a 305 mesh screen. A good print has 90 + % of the dots. They look good but incur time and expense that could be a problem with a large group.
Figures are completed within an hour. Additional figures are done to overcome problems with the form until the standard is met. The clay is not very plastic and forms are safer if constructed and moved while on a board. I'll send pics if you want to see student examples.
Let me know if you want more. Really great group projects. One is in the June 1988 issue of "Studio Potter" on page 49.
Jim Tabor
Tulsa, OK
Craig Clark wrote:
> Is there anyone on the list that has experience with clay and middle school students? I've been asked by a local middle school to teach some clay classes as a visiting potter type person. The director is open to the length and scope of the program and there are reasonable finanacial resources.
> He did mention that he would like to expose the students to "primitive" firing techniques. I'm consisering raku demos/participation (which I know a good bit about) and possibly a pit firing (which I know very little about.)
> Any suggestions?
> Craig Dunn Clark
> 619 East 11 1/2 st
> Houston, Texas 77008
> mudman@hal-pc.org
>
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at melpots@pclink.com.
bob kravis on thu 17 jan 02
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Tabor"
To:
Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2002 2:51 PM
Subject: Re: Clay Projects for Middle School Students
> Greetings Craig-
>
> As I was going through images of the sgraffito project to send you, I saw
images of another student favorite. The self portrait project includes a
full figure with a drawing board and self portrait of their face from a
photograph. The full figure is a quick study in solid clay in a position on
the
> floor holding a drawing board with their picture on it. Students capture
themselves in a variety of poses for the clay form. Their picture on the
drawing board, as if they drew it, is placed with the figure. The irony of
the clay gesture and the accurate "drawing" works well. Students wish they
could
> draw that good.
>
> A red clay is mixed with grog, fine sawdust, and vermiculite to create a
body that works well as much as 2 inches thick for figures in the 10 - 12
inch range. I hope you have good ventilation for firing. The body is pretty
with gold flecks in it. I do this project in all ceramic but I think it
would
> be fine with paper prints too. Students make a clay tile for their drawing
board 2.5 x 3.75 inches. A paper mask is used to block out the area as paper
on the red clay and a clear glaze is fired on the "paper" area. Digital
photographs are ganged into a screen to print ceramic decals and the image
is
> fired to represent their "drawing". I get 12 images per screen and use a
85 line halftone printed through a 305 mesh screen. A good print has 90 + %
of the dots. They look good but incur time and expense that could be a
problem with a large group.
>
> Figures are completed within an hour. Additional figures are done to
overcome problems with the form until the standard is met. The clay is not
very plastic and forms are safer if constructed and moved while on a board.
I'll send pics if you want to see student examples.
>
> Let me know if you want more. Really great group projects. One is in the
June 1988 issue of "Studio Potter" on page 49.
>
> Jim Tabor
> Tulsa, OK
>
> Craig Clark wrote:
>
> > Is there anyone on the list that has experience with clay and middle
school students? I've been asked by a local middle school to teach some clay
classes as a visiting potter type person. The director is open to the length
and scope of the program and there are reasonable finanacial resources.
> > He did mention that he would like to expose the students to
"primitive" firing techniques. I'm consisering raku demos/participation
(which I know a good bit about) and possibly a pit firing (which I know very
little about.)
> > Any suggestions?
> > Craig Dunn Clark
> > 619 East 11 1/2 st
> > Houston, Texas 77008
> > mudman@hal-pc.org
> >
> >
____________________________________________________________________________
__
> > Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
> >
> > You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> > settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
> >
> > Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
melpots@pclink.com.
>
>
____________________________________________________________________________
__
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
melpots@pclink.com.
>
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