Art Is Messy

I know it’s a little early to start thinking about October holidays, but this Day of the Dead activity combines two of my favorite activities—cooking and art!

I don’t support the destruction of property, but come one, this is funny….Barrel Monster

With this being only my third year teaching elementary school I am constantly impressed and surprised by the artistic abilities of my students. This is the first time I have done this project. I had no idea what to expect at the end of it. Theses projects surpassed all my expectations!!!

For this project kids looked at images of Pacific Northwest Indian art work. Afterward, I gave them a worksheet that asked them to choose different animals that represents their feelings. Samples questions were “When I am happy I feel like a…….When I am sad I feel like a…….” After the kids came up with a list of animals, they choose three for their totem poles.

Next, I showed them how to create pinch pots. Pots were stuffed with paper towels and holes were cut at the top and bottom of each ball to allow circulation. Balls were then attached together and then the three headed structure was attached to a clay base.

Students then went a head and built their animal heads and added texture and patterns to their work. After the totem poles students used Amaco Alligator glazes to their colors. I cannot go on enough about how much I love these glazes. They work particularly well on top of our red clay.

Recommendations for the project:

• Be sure that each kids has holes on all their ball, as well as through the bottom of the base. I tried to double check their projects to make sure they had them, sadly I missed a few.
• Make sure that the balls are attache really well to one another. I had a few heads pop off even after the final firing.

For this lesson, students looked at examples of South American and Asian pottery that incorporate animal forms into their vessels. Afterward, students created their own animal inspired pots.

Whoa!!!! It’s been a long time since my last post. Sorry guys! Since coming back to Shanghai I have been sicker than a dog. Now that I am on the up and up, I am ready to blog.

Tomorrow David, myself and two of our friends board a plane to Jingdezhen, China. This area is famous for its long ceramics history. We are very lucky. A collegue of ours at school has two friends who graduated from ceramics programs in Jingdezhen. They will be taking us around for part of the day. I’m looking forward to having some insiders knowledge of the area!