Finished Scenes and Goodbye

On Thursday we finished our scene project as well as made some air dry frames. The scenes turned out really great! Attached are some pictures from the scene project.

On another note, the kilns at Kent Gardens malfunctioned at the beginning of the week, and the kiln doctor could not come fix them until Thursday. I tried to work extra and fire them at Lemon Road School, but their kiln was also not working properly. So, the pieces were bisque fired and will be glazed fired on Friday if all goes well. The students will obviously not be able to bring home their pieces the last day of camp, but if you would like to come by the school office Friday 8/26 or any time during school ours the following week, the pieces will be in the office. There should also be a letter coming home about this too.

It has been fun doing ceramics with this class of students. Thank you for all of your hard work and patience!

Scenes!

Using the ideas from the videos we watched from Art21 as springboards, the class split up into groups and began creating scenes. It was great to see some of the class pull together and combine ideas to begin creating some cool works.

The brainstorming was fun, and creating scenes using some clay element as well as found objects and nature was a new process for all.

Coil Pots

On Friday and Monday we created coil pots. The technique of slipping and scoring was very important to master for this art, especially because if the coils are not connected well, the pots will have holes!

We also watched some short clips about some current artists created by PBS Art21 series. The two artists we watched were Fred Wilson and Gabriel Orozco. I would recommend Art21. They are all about different artists and always have very interesting themes. Here is the link to Art21: http://www.pbs.org/art21/?gclid=CMqsk8mu_qkCFct95QodzRHo0Q

Fun Animal Sculptures

The creativity of this class is awesome! On Friday, we finished up our animal sculptures. There were so many interesting animals in the class - even some made up ones! The students did a fabulous job making them interesting, artistic, AND well-made.

Cups and Animals

For the past two days, we have been working on ceramic cups as well as animals. To make the cups, we started off creating pinch pots. After learning about the techniques of slipping and scoring, as well as coil, slab and pinching, we added a variety of handles to the cups. They are now drying and will be ready for the kiln soon.

Yesterday we started making animals that we will finish up today. As the skill of making pinch pots had already been practiced, the students made two pinch pots and attached them to make a hollow body, and then began to add heads, legs, feet, etc. depending on the shape of their chosen animal. I think they are turning out great!

Welcome to Ceramics Express Session 3!

This session is going to be a lot of fun. On our first day, we introduced ourselves, made name tags, and went over the use of ceramic tools. We then created stamps to identify ourselves on our future work, and started the beginnings of pinch pots that will eventually turn into cups. I also introduced myself to the class, and I thought I would do a bit here as well.

I am in my senior year of college at Brigham Young University studying Art Education. So, in one year, I will hopefully be a full-time art teacher! I grew up in McLean, and started my ceramics career at McLean High School. I have done quite a bit of ceramics in college, and love working with clay. Below are a couple of my past pieces.

End of Session 2!

I am so glad that we had so much fun this session. I hope everyone enjoys their ceramic pieces and has a great rest of the summer!

Scenes and Jeopardy

Today we finished our scenes and then played ceramics jeopardy! At the beginning of the day, the class looked at the scenes from both groups and we had a little critique. We talked about what we liked about each scene and gave some suggestions to both groups about what they could improve. Then, each group put finishing touches on their scenes and we took final photographs of the scenes. The AM pictures are above and the PM pictures are below.

We also played ceramics jeopardy. There were questions involving different artists we had learned about, different skills that we had acquired, and other questions. I think the class had a fun time today and the students are looking forward to bringing their pieces home tomorrow!

Making Scenes

Today we got to make scenes using modeling clay, as well as found objects outside and in the classroom. First, we watched some art21 clips about artists who work with ceramics and found objects, and then take photographs of those scenes for their art. These are current artists are Gabriel Orozco, Cai Guo-Quiang, and Fred Wilson.

After getting some inspiration from other artists, the class broke off into groups and brainstormed ideas of what they wanted to do, as well as made a plan for materials.

We then gathered materials around the grounds of the school, and then began making our scenes. I was impressed with the teamwork and cooperation that I saw throughout the day. We will finish up our scenes tomorrow and then take pictures of the final product for our art.

Glazing and Coil Pots

For the past two days we have been finishing our coil pots, as well as glazing our pieces. The coil pots are now drying and will hopefully be able to make it into the kiln soon. We glazed our cups yesterday, and we glazed our animals and frames today.

We have a lot of different glaze colors, so I am excited to see how things turn out. These glazed pieces are being fired tomorrow.