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.

Coil Pots

Happy Friday! Today we learned about and started creating coil pots. First, we learned how to make coils and to attach them onto a base. After practicing coil-making, we began to make our own coil pots. Making coil pots is an ancient art, and after creating the coils, they are joined together to form an air-tight vessel. We will be finishing up these pots on Monday and then we will begin to glaze our works.

Animal Sculptures

Yesterday and today we worked on animal sculptures. Using the skills that we learned during our first project, the students started off making two small pinch pots. They then combined them using scoring and slipping to make a hollow body, and make holes in those to attach arms, legs, heads, etc. Each student was encouraged to make their animal personalized.

I think that the students were able to be creative during this process, but have enough direction to push them in the right direction. The animals turned out really cool, and hopefully we will be able to fire and glaze them soon!

Finishing our "Pinch" Cups

Everyone was able to finish their cups today! We started off the class brainstorming ideas of what kinds of handles and designs we could use to embellish our cups. We then discussed different methods of how to create handles and designs. Some included slab techniques, coiling, more pinching, as well as slipping and scoring.

After going over techniques, the students were able to make their own artistic choices on how they wanted to create their cups. Despite the difficulties that come up when working with clay each was able to make their own cup, and hopefully they will all dry and fire successfully!

Welcome to Ceramics Express!

Today we had our first introduction to the ceramics medium, and each other! After doing introductions, we made stamps out of clay, which we will use later to sign our other works of art. Instead of signing their name on their pieces, some professional potters use individualized stamps to put on their works, so that is what we are going to do.

We also started on a pinch-pot cup project that we will hopefully get to finish tomorrow. Today, we learned about working with the clay and made our pinch pots. Tomorrow we will make them into cups and then decorate them.

During the introduction part of the day, I told the students a little bit about me and my artwork, and I thought that I might share some here as well. I am in my last year studying to be an art teacher (and hopefully getting a job next year) at Brigham Young University, and have had quite a lot of experience in the Ceramics field. Below are pictures some of my ceramics pieces that I have done in the past.

I am so excited for this session of camp and am looking forward to the many pieces that we will get to create during our time together.

Installation Nature Art

Today was our final day at camp! Our culminating activity was something a little more modern than painting or sketching...we did installation nature art!

Our inspiration was Andy Goldsworthy - the most famous artist that does art in nature, and after watching a clip and looking at some images of his works, we braved the heat and went outside to create our own artworks. I think that they turned out really cool!

Yesterday, we painted using watercolors. After exploring the medium and discussing / practicing different ways of moving paint, we created some watercolor paintings in our sketchbooks. Watercolor is definitely a difficult medium to work with, but very rewarding once you get the hang of it!

I have had so much fun with all of the students this session of camp. I hope that the camp was equally as rewarding for the students!

Animal Sculptures

Yesterday and today were devoted to making animal sculptures out of supplies we found through walks that we took in the surrounding area of Kent Gardens. Each student was supposed to choose an animal that described them, make a plan in order to make the sculpture, find the necessary supplies, and then create it. After hot gluing all of the parts together, the students had the opportunity to paint their sculpture if they wished.

I think, overall, the project turned out harder for the students than they originally expected. There were lots of construction problems, and it was hard to find the exact supplies they were hoping for to create their creature. However, after problem-solving and recollecting some supplies, we were successful in creating some wonderful animals.